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THE LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 







THOMAS PAINE. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE 



THE EDITOR OF "THE NATIONAL' 



PREFACE, NOTES, AND PORTRAITS OF THE MOST 
CELEBRATED OF MR. PAINE'S FRIENDS, 



PETER ECKLER. 



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New York: 

PETER ECKLER, PUBLISHER, 

35 Fulton Street. 






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9462 



Copyrighted, 1892, by Peter Eckler. 



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ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

The Muse of History writing, by the Light of Time, the Life of 

Thomas Paine, I 

Thomas Paine, . . .IV 

The Paine Homestead, vi 

The Dawn, . . . vn 

C. F, Volney, x 

Thomas Clio Rickman, ......... xiv 

The Temple, 4 

Oliver Goldsmith, 6 

Joel Barlow, 10 

Dr. Joseph Priestley, 14 

Benjamin Franklin, 20 

Mary Wollstonecraft, 24 

John Home Tooke, 32 

Brissot, 38 

Condorcet, 44 

Madame Roland, ... 48 

James Monroe, 50 

Danton, '. 54 

Marat, 50 

Charlotte Cord ay, ' .62 

M. De La Fayette, . . 66 

Rouget de Lisle, . 70 

Thomas Jefferson, 74 

Robespierre, , 76 

George Washington, 78 

Death of Marat, ..... .... 80 

Napoleon, 81 

Paine Monument, . , . 88 




"THE DAWN, 

PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 

THE object of the present work is to place before the 
public, at a low price, a concise and impartial his- 
tory of the life of Thomas Paine ; so that the people 
who have been so grossly misled in regard to his real char- 
acter, and so greatly benefited by his services, may learn to 
respect and honor the memory of their great benefactor. 

But few, who have not specially examined the subject, 
realize the great and beneficent influence which Paine' s 
writings have exerted and are still destined to exert. He 
was, as is well known, one of the chief instigators and 
promoters of the American Revolution, and also one of the 
most earnest and zealous workers in the brave struggle 
of the Colonies for Freedom and Independence. 

His success and popularity in America insured him an 
enthusiastic welcome in France, where he was elected a 
deputy to the National Convention from two different de-. 
partments. The revolution in France, after many excesses 
and reverses, has at length proved successful, and the Re- 
public there, as in America, is permanently established. 

In England, the revolutionary spirit was also invoked ; 



Vlll PUBLISHER S PREFACE. 

but, unfortunately, suppressed by the strong hand of 
power, aided by bribery and treachery. * 

"The French Revolution," says James Cheetham,f 
"that terrible concussion which had perniciously af- 
fected all Europe, and particularly England, had pre- 
pared the Clubs for the unhinging doctrines of the 
Rights of Man. Never did the parched earth receive 
refreshing rain with more welcome, than that with 
which the revolutionary people of England admitted 
amongst them the tumultuous writings of Paine. To 
that which was his object ; to commotion, to the over- 
throw of the government, and to bloodshed, in all its 
horrid forms, they were rapidly hastening. Thus pre- 
disposed, the cordiality and enthusiasm with which the 
first part of the Rights of Man was greeted, although 
flattering to the vanity and encouraging to the hopes of 
the author, were not surprising. The Clubs, zealous to 
a degree of frenzy ; always vigilant, always alert, pub- 
lished a groatj edition of thirty thousand copies of the 
work, which was distributed amongst the poor, who 
could not afford to purchase. In the great manufactur- 
ing towns, Paine was considered by the ignorant as an 
apostle of freedom. A song was privately circulated, 
beginning with — 

" ' God save great Thomas Paine, 

His Rights of Man proclaim, 

From Pole to Pole ! ' 

u The government, alarmed, knew not how to meet 
the evil. Burke did, however, by his successive and 

*The government purchased the venal at any price. Paine refused ^Ti.ooo for the 
copyright of the Rights of Man, but freely permitted all to publish his works who de- 
sired. He could not be bribed nor corrupted. Edmund Burke, one of Paine's intimate 
correspondents, suddenly changed his political views, under Pitt's baneful influence, 
and wrote his Reflections on the Revolution in France. When bribery did not succeed 
and publishers could not be intimidated, they were arrested, tried, convicted and 
imprisoned. 

tSee Preface to Cheetham's Life of Paine, pages xvii and xviii. 

t An English coin of the value of four pence. 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. IX 

impressive appeals, animate them to precautionary 
measures. ' ' 

This is the language of James Cheetham, the enemy of 
Paine/ and the convicted libeller of Madame Bonneville. 
But Cheetham, whose writings cannot always be relied 
upon, may be believed when he is forced, as in the pres- 
ent instance, to admit, most unwillingly, the great influ- 
ence of Paine' s writings upon the masses. 

Before Paine announced in the Age of Reason his be- 
lief in " One God and no more," no writer in Europe or 
America was more popular and respected ; but when 
Christians realized that the great author's religion was 
Deism and not Trinitarianism nor Catholicism, their 
former friendship was turned to enmity, and their admi- 
ration changed to hatred. His patriotic services were 
ungratefully ignored, his motives misrepresented, his 
character basely slandered, and his memory maligned. 

Still, there were many members of the community 
who believed in the religious views of Thomas Paine, 
and who also upheld his political doctrines. These 
formed a brave and gallant band who sturdily defended 
his memory from clerical assaults, and refuted many 
of the wicked slanders of his enemies. Their efforts to 
vindicate Paine' s character were ably seconded by reform- 
ers of every kind — by Theists, Pantheists, Materialists, 
Agnostics and Atheists — that is to say, by that nu- 
merous and worthy class of citizens whom Paine styled 
Infidels ! * 

In the twenty-first chapter and twenty-fifth verse of 
the Gospel of St. John, we are told that if the many 
things which Jesus did "should be written every one, 
I suppose even the world itself could not contain the 
books that should be written." 

This romantic and apostolic statement, even if inspired, 
may not be absolutely true ; but it is an indisputable 

* See " Discourse to the Society of Theophilanthropists" Paine's Theological 
Works, pp. 300-306. 



x publisher's preface. 

fact that if all the libels which have been written and pub- 
lished against Thomas Paine, were printed in one book, 
that book would form a volume much larger than both 
the Old and New Testaments combined. 

Touchstone speaks of a lie seven times removed.* 
That is, first, the retort courteous ; second, the quip 
modest; third, the reply churlish; fourth, the reproof 
valiant; fifth, the countercheck quarrelsome ; sixth, the 
lie circumstantial ; seventh, the lie direct ; — but it would 
require a greater genius than even the famed bard of 
Avon to describe and define all the various grades and 
varieties of misrepresentations, untruths, and absolute 
falsehoods with which Christian rancor has assailed the 
character of Thomas Paine. 

The friend and companion of three presidents, — 
Washington, Jefferson, and Monroe, — the friend of 
Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, De Witt Clinton, 
Joel Barlow, Benjamin Rush, and the most prominent 
patriots of "the American Revolution, — the associate 
of Count Volney, Marquis de La Fayette, Condorcet, 
Brissot, Madame Roland, and the leaders of the Rev- 
olution in France, the companion of Clio Rickman, 
Mary Wollstonecraft, Home Tooke, Dr. Priestley, Dr. 
Towers, Romney, the painter, Sharp, the engraver, Col. 
Oswald, &c, &c, in England, has been described by 
Christian writers as a drunkard, a debauchee, and an 
outcast, while the plain truth is, that he was temperate, 
unselfish, patriotic, and the devoted friend of mankind. 

At the present day the number of Paine' s friends has 
become so great and their influence so potent, that only 
the most reckless and audacious of romancers now ven- 
ture to repeat the stale, well-worn, and oft-refuted 
slanders of former years, and, as a consequence, more 
tolerant and rational views in regard to his character 
are becoming prevalent in the community. 

* Shakspeare : A s You Like It, Act 5, Scene 4. 




C, P. TJOLMEY. 



VOLNEY. 



CONSTANTINE FRANCIS CHASSEBEUF, de VOLNEY, 
an eminent French writer, was born in 1757, at Craon, in 
Britanny. He was educated at Angers, and for three 
years studied medicine at Paris ; when, coming into possession 
of an inheritance, he was enabled to indulge his ardent desire of 
Traveling. He spent three years in Syria and Egypt ; and on his 
return published, in 1787, his Travels, which established his repu- 
tation. He was elected a member of the states general ; was 
confined for ten months during the reign of terror; was appointed 
professor of History at the Normal school in 1794 ; and in 1795 he 
made a voyage to the United States, where he remained till 1798. 
Napoleon created him a senator and count. In all circumstances, 
however, Volney was a friend of freedom. He died April 25, 1820. 
Among his principal works are, The Ruins ; Lectures on History ; 
and New Researches on Ancient History. 

" Although no man," says Count Daru, " had a better right to 
have an opinion, no one was more tolerant for the opinions of 
others. In State assemblies as well as in Academical meetings, 
the man whose counsels were so wise, voted according to his 
conscience, which nothing could bias ; but the philosopher forgot 
his superiority to hear, to oppose with moderation, and some- 
times to doubt. The extent and variety of his information, the 
force of his reason, the austerity of bis manners, and the noble 
simplicity of his character had procured him illustrious friends in 
both hemispheres ; and now, since this erudition has become ex- 
tinct in the tomb, may we not venture to predict that he was one 
of the very few whose memory shall never die ? " 

The mutual and intimate friendship that existed between Count 
Volney, Joel Barlow, and Thomas Paine, might readily be inferred 
from the similarity of both their religious and political views. It 
was to Barlow that Paine confided, while on his way to Luxem- 
bourg prison, the precious manuscript of the Age of Reason, 
which has since immortalized his name ! and it was from the 
literary culture and experience of Barlow that Volney derived 
great assistance while translating into English his immortal work, 
The Ruins of Empires. 

Barlow received from his country the highest political trusts, 
having been appointed Consul for the United States at Algiers, 
and afterwards Minister to France ; he also was fortunate in his 
mercantile ventures, and amassed great wealth ; but his literary 
efforts were never crowned with the success awarded to the 
writings of his chosen friends, Paine and Volney. — E. 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. XI 

The spirit of enquiry is also abroad, and has greatly 
modified the religious bigotry of former years. The ad- 
vance of science — the diffusion of knowledge — the 
criticisms of the learned — the teachings of the emanci- 
pated — have produced their salutary effects. Doubts have 
arisen, questions have been propounded, reasons have been 
advanced, and Heresy — the fair child of Wisdom and 
Knowledge — has not only travelled from pews to pulpit, 
but has even invaded Schools, Seminaries and Colleges 
— the very nurseries of faith and doctrine — the sacred 
strongholds of orthodox theology. 

In the first page of the first part of the Age of Reason, 
Mr. Paine tells us, that he had intended to publish his 
thoughts upon religion at an advanced period of life, 
when the purity of the motive could not admit of a ques- 
tion. In the preface to the second part of the same work, 
and also in a letter to his friend Samuel Adams, he tells 
us why he published his religious views sooner than he 
had intended. 

"I saw," says he, "my life in continual danger. My 
friends were falling as fast as the guillotine could cut 
their heads off, and as I expected every day the same 
fate, I resolved to begin my work. This accounts for 
my writing at the time I did, and so nicely did the time 
and intention meet, that I had not finished the first part 
of the work six hours before I was arrested and taken to 
prison. 

" Toward the latter end of December," (1793,) he con- 
tinues, "a motion was made and carried to exclude 
foreigners from the Convention. There were but two in 
it, Anacharsis Clootz* and myself; and I saw I was par- 

* Baron Jean Baptiste de Clootz, or better known as World Citizen Anacharsis 
Clootz, from Cleves, dreamed of a Universal Republic, or union of all Peoples and 
Kindreds in one and the same fraternal bond, and one God only, the People. He 
was arrested and guillotined after two month's imprisonment in the Luxembourg — 
the same prison in which Paine was also confined. 



xii publisher's preface. 

ticularly pointed at by Bourdon de POise, in his speech 
on that motion. ' ' 

We quote from Lamartine * the violent language used 
by Chaumette, the blood-thirsty orator of La Montague 
and of the tribunes, and also by the speaker of the depu- 
tation of Jacobins, to show the intense excitement that 
preceded and prevailed during the dark period of the 
"Reign of Terror." 

"Citizens," said Chaumette, "they desire to starve 
us. They wish to compel the people to exchange their 
sovereignty for a morsel of bread. New aristocrats, no 
less cruel, no less covetous, no less insolent than the old 
ones, have raised themselves upon the ruins of feudalism. 
They calculate with an atrocious indifference how much 
they may derive from a famine, an insurrection, and a 
massacre. Where is the arm that shall turn your 
weapons against the breasts of these traitors? Where is 
the hand to strike these guilty heads ? Your enemies 
must be destroyed, or they will destroy you. They have 
defied the people ; the people this day accept the defiance. 
And you, Montange, forever celebrated in the pages of 
history, be you the Sinai of the French ! Hurl the de- 
crees of the justice and the will of the people in the midst 
of thunder ! Holy Montague ! become a volcano, whose 
lava shall devour our enemies ! No more quarter ! No 
more mercy for traitors ! Let us place between them 
and us the barrier of eternity ! ' , 

The orator of the Jacobins was next heard : — 

"Impunity emboldens our enemies," said he. " The 
people are discouraged by seeing the most guilty escape 
their vengeance. Brissot still breathes — that monster 
vomited forth by England to disturb and shackle the 
Revolution. Let him be judged, he and his accom- 
plices. ' ' 

* History of the Girondists, vol. iii, pp. 119-120. 



publisher's preface. xiii 

The words, u his accomplices," includes the Girondists 
and also the friend of Brissot, Thomas Paine ; and this 
intemperate language comprises all the speaker could 
urge against the author of the Rights of Man. Paine 
was guilty of having been born in England ; he was 
also opposed to the guillotine, and had voted with the 
Girondists to spare the lives of the king and royal family. 
He wished to temper justice with mercy — to destroy 
king-craft, but to spare the king's life ; and for ad- 
vocating this leniency towards the dethroned monarch, 
he placed his own liberty and life in imminent danger. 

It was among scenes like these — scenes of violence and 
bloodshed that disgraced the grandest revolution in the 
world's history — that Thomas Paine, the patriot and 
philosopher, with mind undaunted and serene, regard- 
less of his own fate, and inspired only by his great 
love for humanity, penned his unanswerable protest 
against Venerable Error and Credulous Faith — and be- 
queathed to mankind his priceless and immortal work — 
the Age of Reason. 

The writings of Paine, like those of Shakspeare, 
u are not for a day, but for all time," and the political 
principles he so ably taught — the moral truths he so 
earnestly enforced — will be remembered and commended 
whilst reason holds her throne and justice survives 
among mankind. 

Paine loved his fellow men, — his life was dedicated to 
Humanity, — his writings aroused the world, — his 
genius immortalized his name, — his faith in Democracy 
was sublime, — his labors were crowned with success, — 
his reward was neglect, obloquy, and scorn ! 

Peter Eckler. 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 

THE view of the Old Paine Homestead, herewith presented, 
has been engraved by Walknarf, the well-known wood 
engraver, from a photograph by Mr. C. Lovell. It faith- 
fully represents the buildings as they now appear ; and they 
are substantially the same as they were when owned and occupied 
by Mr. Paine. Necessary repairs have been made from time to 
time as required. The one-story addition to the right has been 
added recently. The shingles seen on the front of the larger 
building show wear, but are still in a good state of preservation. 

The house is on high ground, pleasantly situated, and affords a 
good view of the surrounding country. The land is in a fine 
state of cultivation, and from its proximity to the thriving town 
of New Rochelle, has become valuable for building purposes. 

The present proprietor, Mr. William See, an affable and court- 
eous gentlemen, stated that the larger tree, shown in the fore- 
ground to the right of the engraving, is the celebrated mulberry 
tree planted by Mr. Paine, and that it yearly bears a large crop 
of excellent fruit. I remember that this tree, or one similar in 
appearance, was in full bearing and loaded with luscious berries 
when I visited this farm in company with Mr. Gilbert Vale 
(author of Vale's Life of Paine) over forty years ago. 

The window through which an assassin fired a bullet at Mr. 
Paine, is on the opposite side of the house from that here shown. 

The Paine Monument is situated at the side of the public road 
about one mile north from the town of New Rochelle. It is a 
plain and substantial granite shaft of suitable proportions, and of 
good workmanship, and is quite in harmony with the character 
of Thomas Paine. It is placed about thirty feet north from the 
spot where Paine was originally buried, and this spot can be 
easily identified by the interested visitor, from the presence of a 
solitary tree — a young and thrifty hickory, about six inches in 
diameter, — planted directly over Paine's former grave by the 
bounteous hand of Nature. 

The Monument is enclosed by a substantial stone wall in excel- 
lent repair; and at the entrance is an iron gate, which is also in 
good order. Four trees are planted in the plot, two weeping 
willows, one maple, and one hickory. It is a quiet and pleasant 
location, easily accessible, and should be visited, if possible, by 
every friend and admirer of the Author-Hero of the Revolution. 

The portraits of Danton, Marat, Charlotte Corday, Roujet de 
Lisle, Napoleon, etc., have been added to this collection, not be- 
cause they were particularly the friends of Mr. Paine, but because 
they were all prominent actors in the grand Revolution of '89, 
for which Paine labored so faithfully and suffered so much. 
The Marseilles Hymn is also given because of the immense 
influence it exercised, and because, as Lamartine truly says, "it 
is graven on the soul of France." — E. 




THOMAS CLIO RIGKMAN, 



THOMAS CLIO RICKMAN. 



THE preceding portrait of Rickman was painted by 
Hazlitt, engraved by Jas. Holmes, and published in 
February, 1800, " as the Act directs," at Upper Mary-le-Bone 
Street, London. 

Rickman was a Bookseller, Stationer, and Printer, and his 
intelligent, resolute, honest, and kind expression of coun- 
tenance distinguishes him as a typical Englishman of the 
Old School. He was the life-long friend and biographer of 
Thomas Paine, and we are indebted to him for the best descrip- 
tion we have of the social life of Paine. 

"Mr. Paine's life in London," he tells us, " was a quiet 
round of philosophical leisure and enjoyment. It was occu- 
pied in writing, in walking about with me to visit different 
friends, or being visited by a select few. Lord Edward 
Fitzgerald, the French and American ambassadors, Mr. Sharp, 
the engraver, Romney, the painter, Mrs. Wollstonecraft, Joel 
Barlow, Mr. Hull, Mr. Christie, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Towers, the 
walking Stewart, Colonel Oswald, Captain Sampson Perry, 
Mr. Tuffin, Mr. William Choppin, Captain De Stark, Mr, 
Home Tooke, &c, &c, were among the number of his friends 
and acquaintance; and of course as he was my inmate, the 
most of my associates were frequently his." 

If there be any truth in the old proverb, that "A ma?i may 
be known by the company he keeps", then Mr. Paine must have 
possessed many sterling and estimable qualities to have won 
the esteem and friendship of all these people. He must have 
been, at least in the scriptural sense of the term, (Eccles. x. 7,) 
a prince among men, and a man among princes. — E. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE STAY-MAKER ;* THE SAILOR ; THE EXCISEMAN ; 
THE USHER. 

THOMAS PAINE — the sturdy champion of politi- 
cal and religious liberty — was born at Thetford, 
in the county of Norfolk, on the 29th of January, 
1737. His father, Joseph Paine, was a stay-maker of 
that place, a man of good character, and belonged to the 
Society of Friends, but was disowned by them on 
account of his marriage with a member of the established 
church, Frances Cocke, the daughter of an attorney at 
Thetford. Probably in consequence of this difference in 
the religious denomination of his parents, Paine was 
never baptized ; yet, owing to the orthodox care of an 
aunt, he was in due time confirmed by the Bishop of 
Norwich. Some trifling verses, written in his childhood 
— of the usual character of children's rhymes — are 
recorded as the first literary efforts of the future disturber 
of the old-time tranquility of tyranny and priestcraft. 
His heretical opinions also commenced at a very early 
period. He says in his Age of Reason : 

U I well remember, when about seven or eight years of 
age, hearing a sermon read by a relation of mine, who 
was a great devotee of the church, upon the subject of 
what is called Redemption by the death of the Son of God. 
After the sermon was ended, I went into the garden, and 

* It is probable that Paine acquired in the manufacture of ship stays, the skill which 
enabled him to for<<e and manufacture with his own hands the models for his iron bridge 
spoken of on page "53.— E. 



2 UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

as I was going down the garden-steps (for I perfectly re- 
collect the spot) I revolted at the recollection of what I 
had heard, and thought to myself that it was making God 
Almighty act like a passionate man, that killed his son 
when he could not revenge himself any other way ; and 
as I was sure a man would be hanged that did such a 
thing, I could not see for what purpose they preached 
such sermons." 

There is little remarkable in this early bent. Perhaps 
there are few children whose undirected minds do not 
thus revolt from the apparent incongruities of revelation, 
before the discipline of religious education has accustom- 
ed them to those mysteries undiscoverable by human 
reason, and removed from their limited perception the 
many entanglements of faith. In Paine's case, however, 
this early-excited skepticism lasted during his life. No 
interference with his reason ever had sufficient potency 
to lay that spirit of inquiry so dangerous to all systems 
not founded upon evidence within the reach of human 
investigation. He was educated, indeed, at Thetford 
grammar school : but religion is not acquired at grammar- 
schools. ' ' His studies were directed merely to the useful 
branches of reading, writing, and arithmetic."* Latin 
he did not learn, having no inclination for it, and because 
of the well-grounded objection the Quakers have against 
the book in which the language is taught. But this did 
not prevent him from becoming acquainted with the 
subjects of all the Latin books used in the school, t 
From his father, he says, he received a "good moral 
education and a tolerable stock of useful learning. "J 
About the age of thirteen he was taken into his father's 
shop to learn the business of stay-making. 

When "little more than sixteen years of age," he tells 
us,§ "raw and adventurous, and heated with the false 
heroism of a master (Rev. Mr. Knowles, master of the 

* Rickman p. 34, f Age 0/ Reason, part 1. % Ibid. § Rights of Man, part 2. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 3 

grammar-school at Thetford) who had served in a man-of- 
war, I became the carver of my own fortune, and entered 
on board the Terrible privateer, Capt. Death. From 
this adventure I was happily prevented by the affectionate 
and moral remonstrance of a good father, who, from his 
own habits of life, being of the Quaker profession, must 
begin to look upon me as lost. But the impression, 
much as it effected at the time, began to wear away, and 
I entered afterwards in the King of Prussia privateer 
Capt. Mendez, and went with her to sea." * We have no 
means of ascertaining how long he was at sea. The next 
notice we have of him, is in 1756 (but there is much con- 
fusion of dates in the various accounts of this period of 
his life) when he was in London, and, probably compelled 
by his necessities to resume his business, working with 
a Mr. Morris, a noted stay-maker in Hanover Street, 
Long Acre. In 1758 we find him at Dover, at the same 
trade of stay-making, f In April, 1759, he settled as a 
master stay-maker, at Sandwich, in Kent; and on the 
27th of the following September, he married Mary 
Lambert, the daughter of an exciseman of that place. 
In April, 1760, he removed to Margate, where, shortly 
after, his wife died. Paine resought London. In the 
course of the next year he returned to his father's house, 
at Thetford ; finally renouncing stay-making to study 
for the excise, in which, through the interest of Mr. 
Cocksedge, the recorder of Thetford, he obtained a 
situation as supernumerary. For some fault, possibly 

*The following, from a life published under the assumed name of Oldys, may serve 
as a sample of the lies " like truth" with which it has been more than once endeavored 
to prejudice the public mind. " He (Paine) tells what surely can not be true. He was 
sixteen on the 29th of January, 1753. But the war was not declared against France till 
the 17th of May, 1756, when he had entered into his twentieth year. The Terrible was 
fitted out probably in the summer of 1756, and was certainly captured in January, 1757. 
These facts evince how little Paine is to be trusted."— Oldys, p. 8. tenth edition. Re- 
ferring to Smollett's History we find that though war against France was not pro- 
claimed till 1756, yet in 1752, the King of Prussia complained of the depredations of 
English privateers then infesting the seas. Probably the Terrible was one of these 
privateers. t Rickman, p. 35. 



4 UFK OF THOMAS PAINK. 

an official irregularity, he w?.s dismissed from this em- 
ployment, when he had held it for rather more than a 
year. The following is a copy of his petition to the 
Board of Excise, to be restored to his situation : * 

' ' Honorable Sirs : 

u In humble obedience to your honors' letter of dis- 
charge, bearing date August 29, 1765, I delivered up my 
commission, and since that time have given you no 
trouble. 

U I confess the justice of your honors' displeasure, and 
humbly beg leave to add my thanks for the candor and 
lenity which you at that unfortunate time indulged me 
with. 

"And though the nature of the report and my own 
confession cut off all expectations of enjoying your 
honors' favor then, yet I humbly hope it has not finally 
excluded me therefrom ; upon which hope I humbly pre- 
sume to entreat your honors to restore me. 

"The time I enjoyed my former commission was short 
and unfortunate — an officer only a single year. No 
complaint of the least dishonesty, or intemperance, ever 
appeared against me ; and if I am so happy as to succeed 
in this my humble petition, I will endeavor that my 
future conduct shall as much engage your honors' appro- 
bation, as my former has merited your displeasure, 
"lam 
"Your honors' most dutiful, humble servant, 

' ' Thomas Paine. 

1 ' London, July j, 1/66. ' ' 

"July 4, iy66. — To be restored on a proper vacancy. 

"S. B." 

His remark — "No complaint of the least dishonesty, 
or intemperance, ever appeared against me" — and the 

*Sherwin, p. 9. 




TJie TEMPLE 



THE TEMPLE. 



THE Temple was an ancient fortress, says Lamartine, 
" built by the monastic order of Templars, when 
sacerdotal and military theocracies, uniting in revolt 
against princes, with tyranny towards the people, constructed 
for themselves forts for monasteries, and marched to do- 
minion by the combined force of the cross and sword. After 
their fall, their fortified dwelling had remained standing, 
as a wreck of past times neglected by the present. The 
chateau of the Temple was situated near the faubourg Saint 
Antoine, not far from the Bastille ; it enclosed with its build- 
ings, its palace, its towers, and its gardens, a vast space of 
solitude and silence, in the centre of a most densely populated 
quarter. 

"The walls of the edifice were nine feet thick. The em- 
brasures of the few windows which lighted it, very large at 
the entrance of the hall, sunk as they became narrow, even to 
the crosswork of stone, and left only a feeble and remote light 
to penetrate into the interior. Bars of iron darkened these 
apartments still further. Two doors, the one of doubled oak 
wood, very thick, and studded with large diamond-headed 
nails ; the other plated with iron, and fortified with bars of the 
same metal, divided each hall from the stair by which one 
ascended to it. 

" This winding staircase rose in a spiral form to the platform 
of the edifice. Seven successive wickets, or seven solid doors, 
shut by bolt and key, were ranged from landing to landing, 
from the base to the terrace. At each one of these wickets a 
sentinel and a key-bearer were on guard. An exterior gallery 
crowned the summit of the donjon. One made here ten steps 
at each turn. The least breath of air howled there like a 
tempe-st. The noises of Paris mounted there, weakening as 
they came. Thence the eye ranged freely over the low roofs 
of the quarter Saint Antoine, or the streets of the Temple, 
upon the dome of the Pantheon, upon the towers of the cathe- 
dral, upon the roofs of the pavilions of the Tuileries, or upon 
the green, hills of Issy, or of Choisy-le-Roi, descending with 
their villages, their parks, and their meadows towards the 
course of the Seine." 

It was in this dismal fortress that Louis XVI. and the 
royal family were confined and held as prisoners until their 
trial, sentence and execution. — E, 



UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 5 

readiness of his restoration, sufficiently prove his offence 
to have been unimportant and little affecting his moral 
character ; and the humility and confession that his con- 
duct had "merited displeasure" is but the customary 
form of petition, and amounts to nothing. 

In the time between his dismissal and return to office 
he was engaged as teacher at Mr. Noble's Academy, in 
Leman Street, Goodman's Fields ; and afterwards at Mr. 
Gardner's Academy, at Kensington. During his residence 
in London, he attended the philosophical lectures of 
Martin and Ferguson, and became acquainted with Dr. 
Bevis, the astronomer, a member of the Royal Society.* 
He also purchased a pair of globes, and appears to have 
closely studied and to have acquired great proficiency 
in mechanics, mathematics, and astronomy. 

In 1768 he was settled, as an exciseman at Lewes, in 
Sussex; and there, in 1771, married Elizabeth Ollive, 
shortly after the death of her father, a tobacconist of 
that place, with whom he had lodged, and whose 
business he entered into and carried on. In 1772 he 
wrote a pamphlet — -The Case of the Officers of Excise 
— advocating the claims of the excisemen to higher 
salaries. Four thousand copies of this work were printed 
at Lewes, f He also, about this time wrote several 

* Age of Reason. 

t'"This pamphlet," says Richard Carlile in his Life 0/ Fame, page 6, is the first 
known literary production of Mr. Paine. " He was selected by the body of excise- 
men to draw up a case in support of a petition they were about to present to Parlia- 
ment for an increase of salary. This task he performed in a most able manner; and, 
although this incident drew forth his first essay at prose composition, it would have 
done honor to the first literary character in the country. It did not fail to obtain for 
its author universal approbation. The Case of the Officers of Excise is so temperately 
stated, the propriety of increasing their salaries — which were then but small — 
urged with such powerful reasons and striking convictions, that, although we might 
abhor such an inquisitorial system of excise as has long disgraced this country, we 
cannot fail to admire the arguments and abilities of Mr. Paine, who was then an 
exciseman, in an endeavor to increase their salaries. He was evidently the child of 
Nature from the beginning, and the success of his writings was mainly attributable 
to his never losing sight of this infallible guide. In his recommendation to Govern- 
ment to increase the salaries of excisemen, he argues from natural feelings, and shows 
the absolute necessity of placing a man beyond the reach of want, if honesty be 
expected in a place of trust, and that the strongest inducement to honesty is to raise 



6 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

little pieces in verse,** which, however, hardly bear 
him out in his remark that he had "some talent for 
poetry, "f In April, 1774, on the plea that his trad- 
ing in excisable articles was incompatible with his 
situation, he was again dismissed from the excise. This 
was the ostensible reason : it is not impossible that 
his pamphlet — in so much as it evinced a resolute 
and independent spirit, a disposition to oppose injustice, 
to sift and eradicate abuses — had something to do with 
his discharge ; since nothing was adduced against 
him beyond a mere suspicion that he connived at and 
was concerned in smuggling, a common practice among 
his neighbors and fellow-officers. Indeed, so well was 
his duty performed, that he received several letters from 
the principal clerk in the Excise-Office, thanking him 
for his assiduity. { In the same month the goods of his 
shop were sold to pay his debts ; and almost immediately 
after, he was separated from his wife, by mutual agree- 
ment, articles of which were settled on the following 4th 
of June. § He had never cohabited with her from their 
marriage till the day of their separation, a period of three 
years, although they lived in the same house. To those, 
who upon this circumstance would found an unfavorable 
opinion, we will only say, that no inference bearing upon 
Paine' s character can be deduced from the bare fact, of 
which neither the extrinsic causes nor the personal 
motives can be known ; referring them to his own reply 
to the questioning of his friend Clio Rickman, who attests 
the truth of our relation : — "It is nobody's. business but 
my own : I had cause for it, but I will name it to no 

the spirit of a man, by enabling and encouraging him to make a respectable 
appearance." 

" This Case of the Officers of Excise " says Carlile, " procured Mr. Paine an intro- 
duction to Oliver Goldsmith, with whom he continued on terms of intimacy during 
his stay in England."— Eckler. 

* These poetical productions consisted of The Death of Wolfe, a song; and the 
humorous narrative about The Three Justices and Farmer Short's Dog.— Eckler, 
t Age of Reason. % Rickman, p. 45. § Ibid. 




OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 7 

one." He returned to London; and in the same year 
became acquainted with Dr. Franklin, then in London as 
agent for the House of Representatives of Massachusetts. 
He had happened, when a school-boy, to pick up a pleas- 
ing Natural History of Virginia ; and his inclination 
from that day of seeing the western side of the Atlantic 
never left him. * Being now without home or employ- 
ment, this inclination appears to have gained strength, 
probably encouraged by Franklin ; and, furnished by 
him with letters of introduction, he proceeded forthwith 
to America ;f arriving at Philadelphia, in the winter 
of 1774, a few months previous to the commencement 
of actual hostilities between Great Britain and her rebel- 
lious colonies. 

His first engagement in the New World was with a 
Mr. Aitkin, a bookseller, as editor of the Pennsylvania 
Magazine, at a salary of £2$ a year. The first number 
of this work, containing an introduction written by him, 
bears date, January 24, 1775. The well-known song, On 
the Death of General Wolfe, written by him at Lewes, 
appeared in an early number. In a number for Novem- 
ber of the same year, he proposed the plan of a Saltpetre 
Association for supplying the national magazines with 
gunpowder, all foreign supplies being cut off. His 
writings in the magazine procured him the society of 

* Crisis, note to No. 3. 

fCarlile in his Life of Paine states the case somewhat fuller. He says that in the 
autumn of 1774, Paine "was introduced to the celebrated Dr. Franklin, then on an 
embassy to England respecting the dispute with the Colonies, and the doctor was so 
much pleased with Mr. Paine that he pointed his attention to America as the best 
mart for his talents and principles, and gave him letters of recommendation to sev- 
eral friends. He took his voyage immediately, and reached Philadelphia just before 
Christmas. In January he had become acquainted with a Mr. Aitkin, a bookseller, 
who, it appears, started a magazine, for the purpose of availing himself of Mr. Paine's 
talents. It was called the Pennsylvania Magazine, and, from our author's abilities, 
soon obtained a currency that exceeded any other work of the kind in America. 
Many of Mr. Paine's productions in the papers and magazines of America have never 
reached this country (England) so as to be republished, but such as we have seen are 
excellent, and compel us to admit that his literary productions are as admirable for 
style as his political and theological are for principle."— Eckler. 



8 LJFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

many of the leading men in America, and the work seems 
to have acquired an extensive circulation, mainly owing 
to his ability. His purpose, in coming to America, had 
been to open a school for the instruction of young ladies 
in certain branches of knowledge :* from this we may 
conclude he Was diverted by his. connection with Mr. 
Aitkin. He had up to this time no thought of political 
writing : indeed he says that he believed he should never 
have been known to the world as an author but for the 
affairs of America. In early life he had no disposition 
for "what is called politics, "f regarding them merely as 
a species of u jockey-ship," in which was no material for 
improvement, in which an honest man was sure to be 
deemed i ' impracticable. " We have given, however, 
sufficient evidence of his early detection and detestation 
of wrong, whatever guise it might assume. The master- 
feeling is apparent in his child-like thoughts upon reli- 
gion, and in his first literary attempt in behalf of his breth- 
ren of the excise. These afford clear indications of his 
character : opportunity alone was wanting. Opportunity 
there was none in England, then grovelling fast-bound 
in ignorance, and unresisting and degrading serfdom : 
but the upstarting of America called him forth ; and the 
man was ready to work out his destiny. Common Sense 
was written in the close of the year 1775,! and published 
on the 1st of January, 1776. § 

* Letter from Dr. Rush, quoted by Rickman, p. 49. 

t Age of Reason. J Ibid. 

g " This pamphlet appeared at the commencement of the year 1776," says Richard 
Carlile, " and electrified the minds of the oppressed Americans. They had not ven- 
tured to harbor the idea of independence, and they dreaded war so much as to be 
anxious for reconciliation with Britain. One incident which gave a stimulus to 
the pamphlet Common Sense was, that it happened to appear on the very day that 
the King of England's speech reached the United States, in which the Americans 
were denounced as rebels and traitors, and in which speech it was asserted to be the 
right of the legislature of England to bind the Colonies in all cases whatsoever ! 
Such menace and assertion as this could not fail to kindle the ire of the Americans, 
and Common Sense came forward to touch their feelings with the spirit of independ- 
ence in the very nick of time."— Eckler. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE, 



CHAPTER II. 

A REVOLUTION. 



A BRIEF account of the commencement of the Amer- 
ican Revolution is almost indispensable for the 
proper appreciation of the importance of Paine' s 
first great work, at the time of its publication. 

So early as the year 1764, at the beginning of the reign 
of George III., the longest, and, perhaps the most 
disastrous in British annals, the selfish policy of Great 
Britain had sown the seeds of offence, by vexatiously 
interfering with the trade of her North American colonies. 
By an act passed in September of that year, the long- 
accustomed and beneficial trade between the British 
colonists and the French and Spanish settlements was 
loaded with such heavy duties, that it amounted to a 
prohibition ; and a clause of the same act prescribed that 
all offenders against its provisons should be tried in the 
Admiralty Court, where they were deprived of trial by 
jury. • Yet more offensive was the preamble of this 
legislative injustice, in which the House of Commons 
laid claim to a right of taxing the colonies for the service 
of the mother country: — "Whereas it is just and neces- 
sary that a revenue be raised in America, for defraying 
the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the 
same, We, the Commons, &c, towards raising the same, 
give and grant unto your Majesty, &c." This was 
followed by a resolution of the English Parliament, u that 
it may be proper to charge certain stamp duties in the said 
colonies and plantations." When intelligence of this 
resolution reached America, the colonists were filled with 



IO UFE OK THOMAS PAINE. 

alarm, and petitions and remonstrances were hurried to 
the foot of the throne : these petitions were utterly dis- 
regarded. The Stamp Act was passed : and the colonies, 
emphatically denying the power of the British Senate to 
tax them, proceeded to organize methods of resistance. 
The Assembly of Virginia led the way, in a series of 
spirited resolutions denouncing the encroachment and 
all its supporters. These resolutions were promptly 
responded to by the other States : and on the 6th of June, 
1765, the Assembly of Massachusetts invited the other 
colonial legislative bodies to send deputies to a general 
congress to be holden in New York, on the second Tues- 
day of October, to deliberate on the measures rendered 
necessary by existing circumstances. The representa- 
tives of nine States met ; and agreed upon a declaration 
of rights, and a statement of their grievances ; and also 
drew up petitions to the king and both houses of parlia- 
ment. Similar steps were taken by the other States, 
prevented by their respective governors from sending 
deputies to the congress. The first of November, the day 
on which the Stamp Act was to come into operation, was 
ushered in throughout the States, by the funereal tolling 
of bells. This particular tax had been chosen under the 
idea that the legal nullity of all transactions in which 
the prescribed stamps were not used would ensure its 
working : but not a stamp was bought to legalize any 
contract ; no notice was taken of the act, save its burning 
in public amid the execrations of the indignant multitude. 
The colonists pledged themselves not to import any 
articles of British manufacture, till the repeal of the act ; 
and an association was formed to oppose its operation by 
force. This last resistance was not needed : the stoppage 
of trade brought such distress upon the British manufac- 
turers and merchants, that the government, besieged by 
remonstrances, was compelled to rein in its violence ; 
and the obnoxious act was repealed, in the commence- 




JOEL BARLOW, 



JOEL BARLOW'S VIEW OE THOMAS PAINE. 

{Extract from Barlow's Letter to James Cheetham.) 



THOMAS PAINE as a visiting acquaintance and as 
a literary friend, the only points of view in which 
I knew him, was one of the most instructive men I ever 
have known. He had a surprising memory and brilliant 
fancy ; his mind was a storehouse of facts and useful 
observations ; he was full of lively anecdote, and in- 
genious original, pertinent remark upon almost every 
subject. 

He was always charitable to the poor beyond his 
means, a sure protector and friend to all Americans in 
distress that he found in foreign countries. And he had 
frequent occasions to exert his influence in protecting 
them during the revolution in France. His writings 
will answer for his patriotism, and his entire devotion to 
what he conceived to be the best interest and happiness 

of mankind. 

I am, sir, &c, 

JOEL BARLOW. 

Kalorama, August it, i8op. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. II 

ment of 1766. But there was no intention of leaving the 
colonies at peace. When, indeed, does tyranny refrain 
from any mischief which it has the power to perpetrate? 
The very repeal was accompanied by an insolent declara- 
tion that " Parliament had, and of right ought to have, 
power to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." In 
the following year another attempt was made. A bill 
for granting duties in the British colonies on glass, 
paper, painters' colors, and tea, passed through the 
corrupt British legislature ; and aboard of commissioners 
of customs was established at Boston. Again the colonies 
resisted. Non-importation agreements were again had 
recourse to ; cargoes of goods, actually arrived, were sent 
back to Great Britain : and the baffled ministry rescinded 
all the duties except that on tea. This reservation of 
the contested right was of course most odious. Accord- 
ingly, all use of tea, save that supplied by smuggling, 
was resolutely forborne to such an extent, that seven- 
teen millions of pounds of tea accumulated in the East 
India Company's warehouses. With a view of getting 
rid of this stock, and at the same time of aiding the 
ministry, the company proposed that an act should be 
passed, authorizing them to receive a drawback of the full 
import duties on all teas which they should export to 
America. The government agreed to this scheme, in 
the hope that the colonists — thus enabled, on paying the 
duty for landing tea in their harbors, to buy it at a 
cheaper rate than they could from the contraband dealers 
— would sacrifice their patriotic scruples for the sake of 
gain. They did not know their men, the descendants of 
those stern religionists who for conscience' sake had left 
their father-land, to seek a home in the trans-atlantic 
wilderness. Resolutions were passed throughout the 
States, declaring that whosoever should aid or abet in 
landing or vending the expected tea, should be deemed 
an enemy to his country ; and appointing committees to 



12 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINH. 

wait upon the agents of the East India Company, to 
demand the resignation of their agencies. These demands 
were complied with, except in Massachusetts, where the 
agents, relying on the support of a strong military force 
stationed at Boston, determined to land and attempt the 
sale of the interdicted commodity. The tea ships were 
in the harbor, ready to land their cargoes, when the 
leading patriots boarded the vessels and emptied the tea- 
chests into the water. Great was the rejoicing of the 
evil-desiring and infatuated ministry at this "outrage." 
The British Parliament immediately set aside the charter 
of Massachusetts ; and declared Boston to be no longer a 
port, prohibiting u the landing and discharging, lading 
and shipping of goods, wares, and merchandize at the 
said town of Boston, or within the harbor thereof." 
This was early in 1774. General Gage was sent out with 
an army, as governor of Massachusetts ; and soon an- 
nounced his intention of transferring the seat of govern- 
ment from Boston to Salem, for the purpose of ruining 
the rebellious citizens of Boston. Immediately, in the con- 
demned city, property was fearfully depreciated ; houses 
and warehouses, were emptied and abandoned ; the quays 
were deserted ; silence reigned in the ship-yards ; and 
thousands of unemployed artizans wandered breadless 
about the streets. Curses, loud and violent, echoed the 
decree of the British Parliament ; but not a murmur was 
heard against the democratic leaders. Contributions 
poured in from all quarters for the relief of the sufferers ; 
public meetings were promptly held in every township 
of every province, in which it was resolved to make 
common cause with the doomed citizens of Massachusetts ; 
thanks were voted to the men of Boston ; the inhabitants 
of Marble Head offered their warehouses to the Boston 
merchant ; and those of Salem, in an address to the 
governor, grandly declared that they could not "indulge 
one thought to seize on wealth, or raise their fortunes on 



UFS OF THOMAS PAIN£. t$ 

the ruin of their suffering neighbors. ' ' The proceedings 
of the governor were continually baffled by the counsel 
and unanimity of the patriots. In conformity with the 
statute, he issued a proclamation, prohibiting the calling 
of any meetings after the first of August, 1774. Never- 
theless a meeting was held : and, on his endeavoring to 
disperse it, he was informed that the assembly was not 
in violation of the Act of Parliament, u for that only 
prohibited the calling of town meetings, and that no 
such call had been made ; a former legal meeting before 
the first of August having only adjourned themselves 
from time to time." At this meeting a "solemn league 
and covenant" was entered into: the parties thereto 
binding themselves to suspend all commercial intercourse 
with Great Britain until the offensive laws should be 
repealed and the colony of Massachusetts be restored to 
its chartered rights. The governor's proclamations were 
treated with contempt. When Gage attempted to organ- 
ize the new constitution, most of the counsellors, whom 
he appointed, declined to act ; and juries refused to serve 
under judges nominated by the crown. Congress, com- 
posed of the several committees of the provinces, met in 
Philadelphia, and issued a declaration that it "most 
thoroughly approved the wisdom and fortitude" displayed 
in Massachusetts, and that no obedience was due to the 
restraining statutes. The governor, alarmed at these 
demonstrations, set about erecting a fortress at the 
entrance of Boston ; and on his refusal to desist, a pro- 
vincial assembly, held at Concord, appointed a committee 
to draw up a plan for arming the province. The assem- 
bling the militia was intrusted to a committee of public 
safety ; a committee of supply was empowered to expend 
^15,000 in provisions, military accoutrements and stores, 
which were accordingly provided ; resolutions were 
passed to raise an army , of twelve thousand men ; dele- 
gates were sent to the adjacent States, to urge their co- 



14 UFE OF THOMAS PAIN£. 

operation ; and it was determined that the British troops 
should be attacked if they presumed to march in field 
equipment beyond Boston. Congress issued a declara- 
tion of rights, claiming complete exemption from 
internal taxation by the British Parliament ; protesting 
against the infringement of their charters, and the 
introduction of a standing army into the colonies without 
their own consent. Committees were instructed to watch 
the conduct of the people, as regarded the suspension of 
trade with Britain till the redress of grievances. Neither 
was the desire of pacification wanting on the aggrieved 
side. An address was agreed upon to the British people ; 
the king was petitioned : ("We ask," said the petitioners, 
"but for peace, liberty, and safety.") The answer of 
Parliament was the voting, in February, 1775, an addi- 
tion to the ordinary military force, for the purpose of 
coercing the rebellious provinces ; and the passing an act 
to cripple the American commerce. On the 19th of 
April, 1775, a few months after the arrival of Paine in 
America, war commenced. On the night preceding that 
eventful day, General Gage had ordered a detachment of 
eight hundred picked men of his garrison to march upon 
Concord, to seize the stores of the insurgents, there 
deposited. They encountered, at Lexington, a small 
party of the American militia, who, hesitating to disperse, 
were fired upon by the king's troops, and three or four 
of them were killed : the rest fled. The detachment 
proceeded to Concord, and destroyed the stores, but 
before they could evacuate the place, were attacked by 
the Americans, who, accumulating by degrees, harassed 
their march, taking advantage of every inequality in the 
ground and annoying them from behind the stone walls 
that flanked the road. The marauders would inevitably 
have been cut off, had they not been reinforced by nine 
hundred men under the command of Lord Percy. In a 
state of great exhaustion the united British forces reached 







Dr. JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. 



JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. 



JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, an eminent dissenting divine, and 
experimental philosopher. His liberal religious principles, 
and his avowed partiality to the French Revolution, aroused 
the hatred of the high church and tory party, and his house, 
library, manuscripts at Birmingham, England, where he re- 
sided and apparatus, were burned by a zealous and bigoted 
mob. He was also exposed to great personal danger. He 
emigrated to North America in 1804, and settled at Northum- 
berland in Pennsylvania. His published works comprise be- 
tween seventy and eighty volumes, among which his History 
of the Corruptions of Christianity, and Letters to a Philosoph- 
ical Unbeliever will be remembered. 

In 1797 Count Volney honored Dr. Priestley with a letter in 
answer to his pamphlet entitled, Observations on the Increase 
of Infidelity, with animadversions upon the writings of several 
modern unbelievers, and especially the Rui?is of Mr. Volney. 

At the home of Clio Rickman in London, Dr. Priestley 
made the acquaintance of Thomas Paine, John Home Tooke, 
and other celebrated English reformers. — E. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 15 

Boston, with the loss of sixty-five killed, one hundred 
and eighty wounded, and twenty-eight prisoners. Blood 
being thus drawn, the whole of the discontented States 
flew to arms, and adopted energetic and prompt measures 
to repel the royal usurpation. Volunteers enrolled them- 
selves in every province, and throughout the Union the 
"king's" stores were seized for the use of the rebels. 
George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief, 
and military operations commenced. Hopes of recon- 
ciliation weie still entertained by many ; and another 
petition, temperate and respectful, was presented, on the 
1st of September, to the "Muley Moloch" of England, 
the ' ' Father of his people. ' ' Three days after Mr. Penn, 
the bearer, was informed by Lord Dartmouth that "no 
answer would be given to it." In accordance with this 
"policy," immense levies of soldiers were made in 
England ; treaties were entered into with some of the 
paltry butcher-sovereigns of Germany, the "divine-right" 
sellers of human flesh, who agreed to furnish "men" at 
so much a head, to murder the rebellious Americans ; 
and, not only in opposition to the commercial interests 
of Great Britain, but also in despite of the expressed 
wishes of great bodies of the British people, of the 
wishes of all, indeed, save the high church-and-king 
bigots and the priest-ridden serfs, havoc was let loose by 
God's vicegerent upon an unoffending people ; and all 
chance of peace, save through ( c unconditional ' ' and 
most base submission, effectually annihilated. Previous- 
ly to this, a desultory civil war, began at Lexington, was 
prosecuted with alternating success. Many of the 
colonists still held aloof from the cause of liberty : some 
in sheer cowardice ; some "moderate" men, half inclined 
to slavery, whose chains were tolerably gilded, or whose 
spirits were degraded ; some honest patriots, but men of 
peace, anxious to avert the desolation of their country, 
anxiously watching any shadow of reconciliation ; some 



l6 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

summer soldiers, tired of hard fare and blows : these 
formed a large party of neutrals, enough to swamp the 
best endeavors. While the public mind was thus 
divided, news arrived of the hateful obstinacy of the 
English government. The waverers were yet more fear- 
ful ; traitors more calmorous. What hope for the peace 
seekers? What escape for the peace-breakers? What 
was to be done? On the very day on which the king's 
firebrand speech made its appearance, Common Sense 
confronted it — confronted the timid and the time-waiting 
— and answered the question. The Independence of 
America was proclaimed ! 



UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 1 7 

/ 

CHAPTER III. 

THE AUTHOR ; THE SOLDIER ; THE SECRETARY. 

" \T °THING could nave been better timed"* than 
I V the appearance of Common Sense. "This 
pamphlet of forty-seven octavo pages, holding 
out relief by proposing independence to an oppressed 
and despairing people, was published in January, 1776; 
speaking a language which the colonists had felt, but 
not thought of. Its popularity, terrible in its conse- 
quences to the parent country, was unexampled in the 
history of the press. At first involving the colonists, it 
was thought, in the crime of rebellion, and pointing to a 
road leading inevitably to ruin, it was read with indigna- 
tion and alarm ; but when the reader (and every body 
read it), recovering from the first shock, re-perused it, 
its arguments, nourishing his feelings and appealing to 
his pride, re-animated his hopes, and satisfied his under- 
standing that Common Sense, backed by the resources 
and force of the colonies, poor and feeble as they were, 
could alone rescue them from the unqualified oppression 
with which they were threatened. The unknown author, 
in the moments of enthusiasm which succeeded, was 
hailed as an angel sent from heaven to save from all the 
horrors of slavery, by his timely, powerful and unerring 
councils, a faithful but abused, a brave but misrepresented 
people. ' ' t Thus writes even the infamous traducer of 
Paine. This sufficiently witnesses the avidity with 
which the contents of the pamphlet were seized by the 
American mind. "I gave the copyright," says the 

* Ramsay's American Revolution. t Cheetham. 



1 8 UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

author, "to every state in the Union, and the demand 
ran to not less than one hundred thousand copies."* 
Owing to this disinterestedness, though the sale of 
Common Sense was so great, the author was in debt to 
the printer ^29 12s. id.f The motives which produced 
the work may also claim our admiration, as much as this 
magnificent offering at the shrine of freedom. Hear 
him state them himself, with some little egotism it may 
be, but with a self-gratulation surely warranted and in- 
offensive : 

"Politics and self-interest have been so uniformly 
connected, that the world, from being so often deceived, 
has a right to be suspicious of public characters. But 
with regard to myself I am perfectly easy on this 
head. I did not, at my first setting out in public life, 
turn my thoughts to subjects of government from 
motives of interest ; and my conduct proves the fact. I 
saw an opportunity in which I thought I could do some 
good, and I followed exactly what my heart dictated, I 
neither read books nor studied other people's opinions — 
I thought for myself."! — -"It was the cause of America 
that made me an author. The force with which it struck 
my mind made it impossible for me, feeling as I did, to 
be silent ; and if I have rendered her any service, I have 
added likewise something to the reputation of literature, 
by freely and disinterestedly employing it in the service 
of mankind, and showing there may be genius without 
prostitution. ' ' 

Mighty indeed was the effect of the publication of 
this one man's thoughts. Million-voiced their echo 
from the hearts of colonized America. The doctrine 
of independence had found an efficient preacher ; and 
the independent spirit was breathed even into the 
dry bones of the world-withered trembler. The dead 
became quick ; the living had found a voice. On the first 

* Rights of Man, part 2. f Rickman, p. 68. $ Rights of Man, part 2. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PaINB. 1 9 

of January a word was spoken by a poor vagrant stay- 
maker : by the 4th of July it had been repeated from 
Vermont even to Georgia ; on that day the Independence 
of thirteen States was proclaimed ; a home, and rallying- 
place, was established for Freedom ; and from that day 
to this, far- throned monarchy has not ceased to quail, in 
sad presentiment of its assured doom. 

A groundless suspicion arose that Common Sense was 
not written by Paine. He thus notices the rumor, and 
silences it ; for it cannot be supposed that such an 
assertion, if false, would have been allowed to pass 
unchallenged : 

u Dr. Franklin, Mr. Samuel, and John Adams were 
severally spoken of as the supposed author. I had 
not, at that time, the pleasure of either personally 
knowing or being known to the last two gentlemen. 
The favor of Dr. Franklin's friendship, I possessed in 
England, and my introduction to this part of the 
world was through his patronage. In October, 1775, Dr. 
Franklin proposed giving me such materials as were in 
his hands towards completing a history of the present 
transactions, and seemed desirous of having the first vol- 
ume out the next spring. I had then formed the outlines 
of Common Sense and finished nearly the first part ; and as 
I supposed the doctor's design in getting out a history, 
was to open the new year with a new system, I expected 
to surprise him with a production on that subject, much 
earlier than he thought of ; and without informing him of 
what I was doing, got it ready for the press as fast as I 
conveniently could, and sent him the first pamphlet that 
was printed off."* 

Toward the close of 1776 he wrote a cutting and pithy 
reply to a late piece — entitled, The Ancient Testimony 
and Principles of the People called Quakers renewed, 
with respect to the King and Government, and touching 

* Crisis, No. 3. 



20 UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

the Com?notio?ts now prevailing in these and other parts 
of America, addressed to the People in England, — which, 
had denied the right of rebellion, and hypocritically 
defended that parasite doctrine of court convenience, 
that (as the Testimony phrases it) i ' the setting up and 
putting down kings and government is God's peculiar 
prerogative for causes best known to himself ; and that 
it is not our" (the people's) "business to have any hand 
or contrivance therein." "Wherefore," says Paine, 
"what occasion is there for your political testimony? " 

But our author was not content with writing. The 
Declaration of Independence was a declaration of war to 
the death ; and soldiers were not to many. Paine joined 
the army under Washington, at New York ; and accom- 
panied it in the retreat (after the defeat at L,ong Island, 
on the 26th of August,) from New York to the Delaware. 
At the tables of the officers he appears to have been a 
welcome guest, on account both of his genius and of his 
conversational powers ; and Washington himself was not 
backward in expressions of admiration and personal 
esteem. * 

On the 19th of December, f of the same year, he pub- 
lished the first number of the Crisis: written to re-ani- 
mate the Americans, who were generally dispirited by 
the reverses of the campaign. This Work was continued, 
at various periods, as events called it out, till the con- 
summation of the revolution : the last of the series 
appearing on the 19th of April, 1783; on which day a 
cessation of hostilities was proclaimed. Thirteen numbers 
appeared ; besides a Crisis Extraordinary, on the subject 

* " Paine was the favorite, " says Richard Carlile, " of all the officers, and of every 
other liberal-minded man that advocated the independence of his country, and pre- 
ferred liberty to slavery. It does not appear that he held any rank in the army, but 
merely assisted with his advice and presence as a private individual, acting as a sort 
of literary and friendly aide-de-camp to different generals. In one of the latter pieces 
of his writing he states himself, particularly, to have been aide-de-camp to General 
Greene," — Eckler. 

fRickman, p. 67. 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



IN the year 1774, while Franklin was in England as the agent for the province of Penn- 
sylvania, the Earl of Chatham, being desirous of saving to England her dissatisfied 
American Colonies, sought an interview with the American representative, for the pur- 
pose of consulting with him upon American affairs. 

In this interview Lord Chatham, (as stated in Parton's Life of Franklin, vol. ii, p. 29), 
asked Franklin whether " America aimed at setting up for itself as an independent 
state ?" and the nobleman expressed much satisfaction when Franklin assured him that 
"having more than once travelled almost from one end of the continent to the other, and 
kept a great variety of company, eating, drinking, and conversing with them freely, he 
never had heard in any conversation, from any person, drunk or sober, the least expression 
of a wish for a separation, or hint that such a thing would be advantageous to America. " 

This was no doubt a correct statement of the case. For while the people of America 
sternly resented the oppressive and aggressive conduct of England, and were unanimously 
opposed to taxation without representation, yet they had at that time no thought of 
establishing a separate and independent government ; and, like Franklin, they were 
still loyal to the king and government of Britain. 

But events of great importance were transpiring during this eventful year of 1774 — 
events which none had foreseen or foretold, and in which Dr. Franklin was unconsciously 
acting the principal part. 

He had casually made the acquaintance of a modest, unassuming and energetic young 
Englishman, who wished to emigrate to America, in hopes of bettering his fortune ; and 
Franklin, who was favorably impressed with his agreeable manners and intelligent con- 
versation, kindly gave him a letter of introduction to his son- in-law, Mr. Bache, then re- 
siding in Philadelphia. The letter is as follows : 

" The bearer, Mr. Thomas Paine, is very well recommended to me, as an ingenious, 
worthy young man. He goes to Pennsylvania with a view of settling there. I request 
you to give him your best advice and countenance, as he is quite a stranger there. If you 
can put him in a way of obtaining employment as a clerk, or assistant surveyor, (of all of 
which I think him very capable), so that he may procure a subsistence at least, till he can 
make acquaintance and obtain a knowledge of the country, you will do well and much 
oblige your affectionate father. 1 ' 

Mr. Bache immediately procured Paine several pupils, and he was soon after engaged 
to assist in conducting a magazine just started in Philadelphia. He wrote back to Franklin 
with expressions of gratitude, and stated " that he owed his good fortune in Philadelphia 
to the letter he had brought with him. 1 ' He continued to labor in a moderately successful 
manner for a year after his arrival, no one suspecting, least ot all himself, the grand work 
he was destined to do for his adopted country. The order of events is as follows: 

In the year 1775, the thirteen American Colonies, though greatly dissatisfied and discon- 
tented, still hoped for redress, and were still loyal to the British crown. 

In January, 1776, Paine, the young protege of Franklin, published his wonderful and 
priceless work known as Common Sense. Its effect on the public mind was instantaneous 
and unprecedented, and its popularity was never excelled in the history of printing. One 
hundred thousand copies were required to meet the demand, and, as a result, Congress, 
on the fourth of July following, signed the Declaration of Independence ! 

Thus are we indebted for the liberties we now enjoy, to the brilliant intellect of Paine, 
the patriotic sagacity of Franklin, as well as to the faithful sword of Washington.— E, 



tlFK OF THOMAS PAINE. 21 

of Taxation, dated October 6th, 1780; a brief Super- 
numerary Crisis, addressed to Sir Guy Carleton, May 
31, 1782; and another supernumerary, December 9, 1783. 

In 1777 Paine left the army, being appointed, by 
Congress, secretary to the committee for foreign affairs : 
an office, he says, "agreeable to me, because it gave me 
the opportunity of seeing into the abilities of foreign 
courts, and their manner of doing business." Some fuss 
has been made, both by friends and foes, about his 
assuming the title of Secretary for Foreign Affairs: why, 
it may be difficult to say ; since he certainly was such, 
though not minister and director as English secretaries 
of state unfortunately are wont to be. He resigned his 
secretaryship in January, 1779, in consequence of a dis- 
agreement with Congress, of which his own account, in 
his letter to Congress, appears to give the true reason : — 
u I prevented Deane' s fraudulent demand being paid, and 
so far the country is obliged to me ; but I became the 
victim of my integrity."* 

Silas Deane, in the early part of the war, had been 
employed by Congress to negotiate a loan with the French 
government, for the supply of the patriot army. Without 
waiting the result of his mission, Dr. Franklin and Mr. 
Lee were sent to co-operate with him. Louis readily 
furnished the supplies ; but, not being prepared for a 
rupture with Great Britain, he took a pledge of the 
American commissioners that the affair should remain 
secret. The supplies were shipped in the name of a M. 
Beaumarchais, and consigned to an imaginary house in 
the United States. Deane, taking advantage of the 
necessity for secrecy, presented a claim for "compensa- 
tion" — hush-money; and Congress seemed inclined to 
suffer the imposition. Paine, perceiving this, and, of 
course, aware of the circumstances of the case, published 
several articles in the newspapers, under the title of 

* Memorial to Congress, February 14, 1808. 



22 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

Common Sense to the Public, on Mr. Deane* s Affairs ; 
exposing the impudent attempt of Deane. In conse- 
quence of this publicity, the auditing committee rejected 
Deane' s demand ; and that worthy soon after absconded 
to England. Paine' s breach of "official confidence" 
was, however, severely animadverted upon by several 
members of Congress ; and, though a motion for his dis- 
missal was lost, his application to be heard in explanation 
was negatived ; and he therefore sent in his resignation, 
concluding with these words : — " As I cannot, consistently 
with my character as a freeman submit to be censured 
unheard ; therefore, to preserve that character and main- 
tain that right, I think it my duty to resign the office of 
secretary to the committee for foreign affairs, and I do 
hereby resign the same."* 

Having received but very poor pay while secretary, 
and not choosing to derive any emolument from the sale 
of his writings, (a conduct which he faithfully preserved 
throughout his career), he now engaged himself as clerk, 
to a Mr. Biddle, an attorney at Philadelphia. Neither 
his principles nor exertions were affected by the loss of 
place — a rare instance of political consistency. About 
this time the degree of Master of Arts was conferred on 
him by the University of Philadelphia ; and he was shortly 
after appointed clerk to the Assembly of Pennsylvania, f 
and also chosen a member of the American Philosophical 

* Paine, however, says Richard Carlile, " carried no pique with him into his retire- 
ment, but was as ardent as ever in the cause of independence and a total separation 
from Britain. He published several plans for an equal system of taxation to enable 
Congress to recruit the finances and to reinforce the army ; and, in the most clear and 
pointed manner, held out to the inhabitants of the United States the important advan- 
tages they would gain by a cheerful contribution towards the exigencies of the times, 
and at once to make themselves formidable, not only to cope with, but to defeat the 
enemy. He reasoned with them on the impossibility of any army that Britain could 
send against them being sufficient to conquer the continent of America. He again and 
again explained to them that nothing but fortitude and exertion were necessary on 
their part to annihilate in one campaign the forces of Britain, and to put a stop to the 
war. It is evident and admitted on all sides, that these writings became the main- 
spring of that action which procured independence to the United States." — Eckler. 

f Memorial to Congress. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 23 

Society, on its revival by the Pennsylvanian legislature. 
Somewhere near this period he published a pamphlet 
entitled Public Good y an examination of the claim of 
Virginia to the vacant western territory, a work of little 
interest now, but worthy of notice here, as evidence of 
his uncompromising spirit. The part he took was in 
opposition to the claim of Virginia, though he knew that 
a proposition was pending before the legislature of that 
state, for voting him a gratuity, on account of his labors 
in behalf of American independence. It seems that he 
lost the grant in consequence of his untimely stiffness ; 
yet his example deserves occasional imitation, however 
"inconvenient" such conduct may be to the mere 
marketable politician of our degenerate day. * 

In February, 1781, the financial distress of America 
induced Congress to send Colonel Laurens, a son of the 
late president, to France, in order to obtain a loan ; and, 
at his solicitation, Paine, whose suggestion seems to have 
originated the mission, accompanied him. They were 
again in America in August, having accomplished the 
object of their mission more readily, and to a greater 
amount, than was expected, f In 1782 he published a 
Letter to the Abbe Raynal, to expose the errors of the 
abbe's history of the American Revolution, t 

* " Nothing can more strongly argue the genuine patriotism and real disinterested- 
ness of the man," says Richard Carlile, whose honest, intrepid spirit was in harmony 
with that of Paine, ,: than his opposing the claims of this State at a moment when it 
was about to make him a more liberal grant than any other State had done."— Eekier, 

f " They returned to America," says Richard Carlile "with two millions and a half 
oflivres in silver, and stores to the united value of sixteen millions of livres. This 
circumstance gave such vigor to the cause of the Americans, that they shortly after- 
wards brought the Marquis Cornvvallis to a capitulation, and the war for independence 
to an end. Six millions of livres were a present from France, and ten millions were 
borrowed from Holland on the security of France. In this trip to France, Mr. Paine 
not only accomplished the object of his embassy, but he also made a full discovery of 
the traitorous conduct of Silas Deane ; and, on his return, fully justified himself 
before his fellow citizens in the steps he had taken in that affair; whilst Deane was 
obliged to shelter himself in England from the punishment due to his crimes."— Eckler. 

% " With a hope of correcting the future historian," says Richard Carlile, " Mr. 
Paine answered the Abbe in a letter, and pointed out all his misstatements. This 
letter is remarkably well written, and abounds with brilliant ideas and natural 



24 UFE OE THOMAS PAINE. 

We have before noticed Franklin's friendship for Paine. 
His society, according to the accounts of those who best 
knew him, was highly esteemed; "his value, his 
firmness, his independence, as a political character, were 
now univerally acknowledged ; his great talents, and 
the high purposes to which he devoted them, made him 
generally sought after and looked up to ; and General 
Washington was foremost to express the great sense he 
had of the excellence of his character, and the importance 
of his services."* 

"When the war ended," says Paine, "I went from 
Philadelphia to Bordentown, on the east bank of the 
Delaware, where I have a small place. Congress was at 
this time at Princetown, fifteen miles distant ; and 
General Washington had taken his headquarters at 
Rocky-Hill, within the neighborhood of Congress, for 
the purpose of resigning his commission, (the object for 
which he had accepted it being accomplished,) and of 
retiring to private life. While he was on this business 
he wrote me the letter which I here subjoin, "f 

u Rocky- Hill, September 10, iy8j. 
"I have learned since I have been at this place, that 
you are at Bordentown. Whether for the sake of 
retirement or economy, I know not. Be it for either, 

embellishments. Ovid's classical and highly admired picture of Envy can scarcely 
vie with the picture our author has here drawn of Prejudice :" 

"There is something exceedingly curious in the constitution and operation of 
prejudice. It has the singular ability of accommodating itself to all the possible 
varieties of the human mind. Some passions and vices are but thinly scattered among 
mankind, and find only here and there a fitness of reception. But prejudice, like the 
spider, makes everywhere its home. It has neither taste nor choice of place, and all 
that it requires is room. There is scarcely a situation except fire or water in which a 
spider will not live. So let the mind be as naked as the walls of an empty and for 
saken tenement, gloomy as a dungeon, or ornamented with the richest abilities of 
thinking — let it be hot or cold, dark or light, lonely or uninhabited, still prejudice if 
undisturbed, will fill it with cobwebs, and live like the spider where there seems 
nothing to live on. If the one prepares her food by poisoning it to her palate and her 
use, the other does the same ; and as several of our passions are strongly characterized 
by the animal world, prejudice may be denominated the spider of the mind." 

" He never deviated from the path of nature, and was unquestionably as bright an 
ornament as ever our Common Parent held up to mankind. He studied men and 
things in preference to books, and thought and compared as well as read." — Eckler, 
* Rickman, p. 70. ^Rights of Man, part 2. 




MARY W0LL3T0NECRAFT. 



THE REVOLUTION. 

BY ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE. 



THE great epoch of the Revolution ended with Robespierre and Saint-Just. The 
second race of revolutionists began. The republic fell from tragedy into intrigue, 
from spiritualism into ambition, from fanaticism into cupidity. At this moment when 
every thing grows small, let us learn to contemplate what was so vast. 

The Revolution had only lasted five years. These five years are five centuries for 
France. "Never perhaps on this earth, at any period since the commencement of the 
Christian era, did any country produce, in so short a space of time, such an eruption of 
ideas, men, natures, characters, geniuses, talents, catastrophes, crimes, and virtues, as 
during these convulsive throes of the social and political future which is called by the 
name of Prance. (Neither the age of Caesar and Octavius at Rome, nor the age of Charle- 
magne amongst the Gauls and in Germany, nor the age of Pericles in Athens, nor of Leo 
X., in Italy, nor Louis XIV., in France, nor of Cromwell in England.) It was as if the 
earth were in labor to produce a progressive order of societies, and made an effort of 
fecundity comparable to the energetic work of regeneration which Providence desired to 
accomplish. 

Men were born like the instantaneous personifications of things which should think, 
speak, or act. Voltaire, good sense; Jean Jacques Rousseau, t h e ideal; Condorcet, 
calculation: Mirabeau, impetuosity; Vergniaud, impulse ; Danton, audacity; Marat, 
fury; Madame Roland, enthusiasm; Charlotte Corday, vengeance; Robespierre, 
Utopia; Saint-Just, the fanaticism of the Revolution. Behind these came the secondary 
men of each of these groups, forming a body which the Revolution detached after having 
united it, and the members of which she brake, one by one, as useless implements. Light 
shone from every point of the horizon at once ; darkness fell back ; prejudices weie cast 
off; consciences were freed ; tyrannies trembled, and the people rose. Thrones crumbled: 
intimidated Europe ceased to strike, and, stricken herself, receded in order to gaze on this 
grand spectacle at a greater distance. 

This deadly struggle for the cause of human reason is a thousand times more glorious 
than the victories of the armies which succeeded to it. It acquired for the world inalien- 
able truths, instead of acquiring for a nation the precarious increase of provinces. It 
enlarged the domain of mind, instead of expanding the limits of a people. Martyrdom is 
its glory ; its ambition virtue. We are proud to be of a race of men to whom Providence 
has permitted the conception of such ideas, and to be the child of an age which has 
impressed its impulses on such advances of the human mind. 

We glorify France in its intelligence, its character, its soul, its blood ! The heads of 
these men fall one by one ; some justly, others unjustly ; but they fall in consumma- 
tion of the work. We accuse or absolve ; weep or curse them. Individuals are innocent 
or guilty, loved or hateful, victims or executioners. The working out is vast, and the 
idea soars above the instruments, like the ever pure cause over the horrors of the field of 
battle. 

After five years, the Revolution is nothing but a vast cemetery. Over the tomb of 
each of these victims is inscribed a word which characterises it. Over one, Philosophy; 
another, Eloquence; another, Genius; another, Courage; here Crime, there Virtue: 
but over one and all is written, "Died for posterity, 11 and, "Workman in the cause of 
humanity.' 1 

The History of the Revolution is glorious and sad as the morrow of a victory, and the 
eve of a battle. But if this history be full of mourning, it is also full of faith. It resem- 
bles the antique drama, in which, whilst the narrator gives the recital, the chorus of the 
people sings the glory, bewails the victims, and raises a hymn of consolation and hope 
to God 1 



UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 25 

for both, or whatever it may, if you will come to this 
place and partake with me, I shall be exceedingly happy 
to see you in it. Your presence may remind Congress of 
your past services to this country, and if it is in my 
power to impress them, command my best exertions with 
freedom ; as they will be rendered cheerfully by one who 
entertains a lively sense of the importance of your works, 
and who, with much pleasure, subscribes himself 

"Your sincere friend, 

"G. Washington." 

In 1785 Congress granted Paine three thousand dollars, 
in consideration of his public sevices, as is shown by the 
following extracts from the journals of Congress : 

1 ' Friday, August 28, 1783. 

"On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. 
Gerry, Mr. Petit, and Mr. King, to whom was referred a 
letter of the 13th, from Thomas Paine: 

"Resolved, That the early, unsolicited, and continued 
labor of Thomas Paine, in explaining the principles of 
the late revolution, by ingenious and timely publications 
upon the nature of liberty and civil government, have 
been well received by the citizens of these states, and 
merit the approbation of Congress ; and that in considera- 
tion of these services, and the benefits produced thereby, 
Mr. Paine is entitled to a liberal gratification from the 
United States." 

"Monday, October 3, 1785. 

( ' On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. Gerry, 
Mr. Howell, and Mr. Long, to whom were referred 
sundry letters from Mr. Thomas Paine, and a report on 
his letter of the 1 3th of September : 

"Resolved, That the board of treasury take order for 
paying to Mr. Thomas Paine the sum of three thousand 
dollars, for the considerations mentioned in the resolution 
of the 26th of August last. ' ' 



26 LIFE OE THOMAS PAINE. 

One of his biographers (Sherwin) disputes the inference 
to be drawn from the above resolutions, that the grant 
was in payment of his literary labors. There is an error, 
he says, in the wording of the resolutions. ' ' The case was 
this : — The salary which Mr. Paine received as secretary to 
the committee of foreign affairs was very small, being 
only eight hundred dollars a year ; and the deprecia- 
tion which took place in consequence of the immense 
and repeated issues of paper money reduced even this to 
less than a fifth of its nominal value. Mr. Paine, aware 
of the difficulties in which the Congress were placed, 
forebore to harass them with any applications for money 
during the war ; but after it was closed he addressed to 
them a letter requesting that they would make up the 
depreciation, with some other incidental expenses which 
he had been at in the discharge of his official duties. 
The letter was referred to a committee, of which Mr. 
Gerry was chairman. This gentleman came to Mr. 
Paine, and informed him that 'the committee had con- 
sulted upon the subject, that they intended to bring in a 
handsome report, but they thought it best not to take 
any notice of Deane's affair or Mr. Paine' s salary.' — 
'They will indemnify you,' said he, 'without it. The 
case is, there are some motions on the journals of 
Congress for censuring you with respect to Deane's affair, 
which cannot now be recalled because they have been 
printed. We will, therefore, bring in a report that will 
supersede them, without mentioning the purport of your 
letter.'"* 

In the same year (1785) the state of Pennsylvania 
(where he first published Common Sense and The Crisis) 
presented him with ^500. New York gave him the con- 
fiscated estate of a royalist, situated at New Rochelle, in 
the county of Westchester ; consisting of more than three 
hundred acres of land in high cultivation, with an elegant 

* Sherwin. p. 88-9 ; see also the Memorial to Congress. 






LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 2J 

stone house, outhouses, &c. Virginia, we have seen, 
had good intentions towards him : the purposed grant of 
that state was lost by a single vote. In 1786 he pub- 
lished, in Philadelphia, a Dissertation on Government, the 
Affairs of the Bank, and Paper Money, in opposition to 
an attack upon the Bank of North America, incorporated 
in 1 78 1. In 1780, the army being in a most forlorn and 
almost mutinous state (when the British forces, having 
laid waste the southern states, closed their ravages by the 
capture of Charleston), Washington addressed a letter to. 
the Pennsylvanian Assembly, which Paine, as clerk to 
the Assembly, was ordered to read. "A despairing 
silence pervaded the House:" the public treasury was 
empty, the country already overburdened with taxation. 
No resource presented itself but voluntary subscription. 
The state of affairs was critical, and no time was to be 
lost. Paine, on his return home, drew the salary due to 
him on account of his clerkship, and proposed a prompt 
subscription, laying down five hundred dollars as his own 
contribution. The scheme was successful. The sub- 
scribers formed themselves into a bank (incorporated by 
Congress in the following year), which supplied the 
wants of the army and was of essential service to the 
state. The Dissertation had the desired effect : the 
assault upon the bank was given up. 

During the war Paine had meditated a visit to England. 
U I was," he says, "strongly impressed with the idea, 
that if I could get over to England without being known, 
and only remain in safety till I could get out a publica- 
tion, that I could open the eyes of the country with 
respect to the madness and stupidity of its government. 
I saw that the parties in parliament had pitted themselves 
as far as they could go,* and could make no new impres- 
sions on each other. "f He had thought of the project 
before the detection and execution of Major Andre, the 

* This was 100 years ago. f Rights of Man, part 2. 



28 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINF. 

agent in the treason of Arnold. That event had deterred 
him. His desire was renewed while he was in France 
with Colonel L,aurens. An English packet to New York 
was seized by a French privateer, and, by some stratagem, 
the government dispatches were secured. These were 
sent to Paris, and presented by the French minister, 
Count Vergennes, to Colonel L,aurens and Mr. Paine, for 
the information of Congress. This circumstance revived 
Paine' s intention of visiting England, but he was induced 
to postpone undertaking it, as Colonel I v aurens was un- 
willing to return alone to America. Now, however, 
1787, the independence of America fully established, 
and his main occupation gone, he resolved to fulfil his 
purpose. In April, 1787,* he set sail from the United 
States; visited Paris (where he made a brief sojourn, en- 
joying the society of several of the most scientific men of 
France, and exhibiting to the Academy of Sciences, the 
model of an iron bridge of his own invention) ;f and arrived 
in England, in the beginning of September, just thirteen 
years after his departure for America. 

*Sherwin, p. 94. 

t"The famous iron bridge of one arch at Sunderland," says Richard Carlile, "was 
the first result of this discovery, although another claimed the invention and took 
credit for it with impunity, in consequence of the general prejudice against the name 
and writings of Mr. Paine. It is a sufficient attestation of this fact, to say, that the 
Sunderland bridge was cast at the foundry of Mr. Walker, at Rotherham, in Yorkshire, 
where Mr. Paine had made his first experiment on an extensive scale. 

"How few are those," continues Carlile, " who walk across the bridge of Vauxhall 
and call to mind the fact, that Thomas Paine was the first to suggest and recommend 
the use of the iron bridge ! He says he borrowed the idea of this kind of bridge from 
seeing a certain species of spider spin its web ! In the mechanical arts he took great 
delight, and made considerable progress. In this, as in his political and theological 
pursuits, to ameliorate the condition, by adding to the comforts of his fellow-men, 
was his first object and final aim."— Eckler. 



UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 29 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE MECHANIC ; THE "SEDITIOUS." 

ON his arrival in England, Paine hastened to his 
native place, Thetford. His father was dead, and 
his mother was in a state of penury. Upon her 
he settled a weekly allowance ; and remained some weeks 
at Thetford, leading a recluse life, occupied in writing a 
pamphlet on the state of the British nation, which was 
published in London, before the close of the year, (1787,) 
under the title of Prospects on the Rubicon. 

In 1788, he went to reside at Rotherham, in York- 
shire, to superintend the manufacture of an iron bridge 
after the model exhibited in Paris. In May, 1789, he 
wrote an account of his proceeding to Sir George 
Staunton, who forwarded the letter to the Society of 
Arts, &c, in the Adelphi. The society determined that 
this account of his invention was well worthy of a place 
in their "Transactions;" but the appearance of the 
Rights of Man altered their scientific opinions, marvel- 
lously depreciating the value of the iron bridge.* 

He appears to have visited Paris again both in 1789 
and '90 : but his biographers throw little light upon his 
movements, for nearly two years. Rickman has no notice 
of him from '88 to '91, and Sherwin, f without mentioning 
time, simply states, that "he hastened over to Paris, - 
that he might have the pleasure of witnessing the down- 

* Sherwin, p. 97-8.$ 

t The Glasgow edition, published in 1833, is merely a bungling and dishonest copy 
of Sherwin's. Its very title-page contains a lie. It says, " Interspersed with sundry 
letters, <Sfc. not before published." Now, in this Glasgow piracy there is but one letter 
not contained in Sherwin : that one letter is copied from Rickman. 

\ Bigotry and prejudice," says Richard Carlile, " form a woful bar to science and 
improvement."— Eckler. 



30 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

fall of Bourbon despotism."* The following sentence 
— u The destruction of the Bastile, and the universal 
diffusion of republican principles throughout the French 
empire, had rendered that country a singular object of 
terror to the English government," — leads us to infer 
that the visit alluded to was after the destruction of the 
Bastile, July 14, 1789. u He left France," says Sherwin, 
" in November, 1790 :"f yet, in one of his letters, (given 
by Sherwin in the appendix to his life) J dated from 
Paris, March 16, 1790, he says, "I leave this place to- 
morrow for London : I go "expressly for the purpose of 
erecting an iron bridge, which Messrs, Walker, of Roth- 
erham, Yorkshire, and I have constructed, and which is 
now ready for putting together. ' ' 

In the erection of this bridge he appears to have been 
at considerable expense, which was principally defrayed 
by a Mr. Whiteside, an American merchant, probably on 
the strength of some security on Paine' s property in 
America. This person becoming bankrupt, Paine, who 
had overdrawn his account, was arrested by the assignees 
for the balance. He was, however, soon bailed out by 
two American merchants, and in a very short time was 
enabled to clear himself. 

In the House of Commons, early in 1790, Mr. Burke 
had attacked the principles of the French Revolution. 
Shortly after, appeared an advertisement in the news- 
papers of his intention of publishing a pamphlet on the 
same subject ; and Paine promised the friends of the 
revolution, that he would reply to it. § The pensioner's 

* Sherwin, p 99. f Ibid. , p. 100. J Appendix, p. 16. 

§ " The friend of Washington and Franklin," says Carlile, " could not fail to obtain 
an introduction to the leading political characters in England, such as Burke, Home 
Tooke, and the most celebrated persons of that day. Burke had been the opponent 
of the English Government during the American war, and was admired as the advo- 
cate of constitutional freedom. Pitt, the most insidious and destructive man that 
ever swayed the affairs of England, saw the necessity of tampering with Burke, and 
found him venal. It was agreed between them that Burke should receive a pension 
in a fictitious name, but outwardly continue his former character, the better to learn 
the dispositions of the leaders in the Opposition, as to the principles they might 



LIKE OF THOMAS PAINE. 31 

"Reflections" appeared just after Paine's return to Eng- 
land (in November, 1790); and in less than three months 
after, was produced the first part of the Rights of Man. 
This was written "partly at the Angel at Islington, 
partly in Harding Street, Fetter Lane, and finished at 
Versailles."* 

The work was printed in February, f for Mr. Johnson, 
of St. Paul's Church-yard; but he, on re-perusing it, 
finding certain passages which he thought liable to pros- 
ecution, declined having anything further to do with it. J 

After some difficulty, a willing publisher was found — 
a Mr. Jordan, of No. 166, Fleet Street ; and the book 
was brought out by him, on the 13th of March, 1791. 
Its immediate circulation — allowing for some exaggera- 
tion on the part of his friend, Clio Rickman — appears 

imbibe from the American Revolution, and the approaching revolution in France. 
This was the masterpiece of Pitt's policy; he bought up all the talent that was op- 
posed to his measures ; but, instead of requiring a direct support, he made such per- 
sons continue as spies on their former associates ; and thus was not only informed of 
all that was passing, but, by his agents, was enabled to stifle every measure that was 
calculated to affect him, by interposing the advice of his bribed opponents and 
pseudo patriots. 

"It was thus that Mr. Paine was drawn into the company of Burke, even into a cor- 
respondence with him on the affairs of France ; and it was not until Pitt saw the ne- 
cessity of availing himself of the avowed apostacy of Burke, and of getting him to 
make a violent attack upon the French Revolution, that Mr. Paine discovered his 
mistake in the man. It is beyond question that Burke's attack on the French Revo- 
lution had a most powerful effect in this country, [England,] and kindled a hatred 
without showing a cause for it ; but still, as honest principles will always outlive 
treachery, it drew forth the Rights 0/ Man, which will stand as a lesson to all people 
in all future generations, whose government may require reformation. Vice can 
triumph but for a moment, whilst the triumph of virtue is perpetual."— Eckier. 

* Rickman, p. 84. 

fSherwin, p. 101. Rickman says it was published in February; but his dates are 
very little to be depended upon. 

% " The laws of England have been a great bar to the propagation of sound prin- 
ciples and useful lessons on government," says Richard Carlile, " for, whatever 
might have been the disposition and abilities of authors, they have been compelled to 
limit that disposition and those abilities to the disposition and abilities of the pub- 
lisher. Thus, it has been difficult for a bold and honest man to find a bold and honest 
publisher; even in the present day it continues to be the same ; and the only effectual 
way of going to work is for every author to become his own printer and publisher. 
Without this measure every good work has to be manned according to the humor of 
the publisher employed. llwas thus that Mr. Paine found great difficulty in procur- 
ing a publisher even for his First Part of Rights of Man. It was thus that the great 
and good Major Cartwnght found it necessary, during the suspension of the Habeas 



32 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

to have been of an extent unprecedented, if we except 
that of Common Sense. 

In May, Paine revisited France ; and was in Paris at 
the time of the king's flight. On that occasion, he is 
said to have remarked to a friend :— " You see the ab- 
surdity of monarchial governments. Here will be a 
whole nation disturbed by the folly of one man. ' ' 

While in France, the Abbe Sieyes having avowed an 
intention of writing in defence of monarchy, against re- 
publicanism, Paine offered to controvert his arguments, 
in a given number of pages : but the abbe's work never 
appeared. 

On the 13th of July, he returned to L,ondon, and was 
present, August 20th, at the Thatched House Tavern, 
St. James's Street, at a meeting (of which Home Tooke 
was chairman) of the u Friends of Universal Peace and 
Iviberty," for whom he drew up an address in approba- 
tion of the French Revolution, and to protest against an 
underhand government interference, which had hin- 

Corpus Act, to take a shop and sell his own pamphlets. 1 do not mean to say that 
there is a fault in publishers; the fault lies elsewhere; for it is well known that as 
soon as a man finds himself within the walls of a gaol for any patriotic act, those 
outside trouble themselves but little about him. It is the want of a due encouragement 
which the nation should bestow on all useful and persecuted publishers. 

" Mr. Paine would not allow any man to make the least alteration, or even correc- 
tion, in his writings. He would say that he only wished to be known as what he 
really was, without being decked with the plumes of another. I admire and follow 
this part of his principles, as well as most of his others, and I hold the act to be fur- 
tive and criminal where one man prunes, mangles, and alters the writings of another. 
It is a vicious forgery, and merits punishment. 

" Mr. Paine had been particularly intimate with Burke, and I have seen an original 
letter of Burke's to a friend, wherein he expressed the high gratification he felt at 
having dined at the duke of Portland's with Thomas Paine, the great political writer 
of the United States, and the author of Common Sense. Whether the English minis- 
ters had formed a desire to corrupt Mr. Paine by inviting him to their tables, it is 
difficult to say, but not improbable : one thing is certain, that, if ever they had 
formed the wish, they were foiled in their design ; for the price of ^"1,000, which 
Chapman, the printer of the Second Part of Rights of Man, offered for its copyright, 
- and which was refused, is a proof that he was incorruptible on this score. Mr. Paine 
was evidently much pleased with his intimacy with Burke ; for it appears that he 
took considerable pains to furnish him with all the correspondence possible on the 
affairs of France, little thinking that he was cherishing a viper, a man that would 
hand those documents over to the minister ; but such was the case, until Mr. Burke 
was compelled to display his apostacy in the House of Commons, and to bid his 
former associates beware of him." — Eckler. 







JOHN HORNE TCOKE 



JOHN HORNE TOOKE. 



JOHN HORNE TOOKE, a prominent English politician 
and philiologist, educated at Westminster and Eaton 
schools, and at the St. Johns College, Cambridge. He was 
inducted to the chapelry of New Brentford in 1760, but 
the clerical profession being little suited to his habits and feel- 
ings, he resigned his living at the above place and studied law 
at the Temple. In 1775 he was sentenced to imprisonment on 
a charge of having libelled the king's troops in America. In 
1792, he was tried at the " Old Bailey " on a charge of treason 
and acquitted. His crime was an attempt to effect a reform in 
Parliament. He was defended by the celebrated lawyer, 
Thomas Erskine, (afterwards Lord High Chancellor of Eng- 
land,) who had also defended Thomas Paine from the charge 
of treason, brought before the same court. 

Many persons have believed that Home Tooke was the 
author of the Letters of Junius. — E. 



life: of Thomas paink. 33 

dered their purposed commemoration of the fourth of 
August. * 

The following account of Paine' s manner of life, about 
this period, is given by his friend Clio Rickman :f 

"Mr. Paine's life in London was a quiet round of phi- 
losophical leisure and enjoyment. It was occupied in 
writing, in a small epistolary correspondence, in walking 
about with me to visit different friends, occasionally 
lounging at coffee-houses and public places, or being 
visited by a select few. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the 
French and American ambassadors, Mr. Sharp, the en- 
graver, Romney, the painter, Mrs. Wollstonecraft, Joel 
Barlow, Mr. Hull, Mr. Christie, Dr. Priestley, Dr. 
Towers, Colonel Oswald, the walking Stewart, Captain 
Sampson Perry, Mr. Tufnn, Mr. William Choppin, Cap- 
tain De Stark, Mr. Home Tooke, &c, &c. , were among 
the number of his friends and acquaintance ; and of 
course, as he was my inmate, the most of my associates 
were frequently his. At this time he read but little, took 
his nap after dinner, and played with my family at some 
game in the evening, as chess, dominoes, and drafts ; in 
recitations, singing, music, &c. ; or passed it in conver- 
sation : the part he took in the latter was always en- 
lightened, full of information, entertainment, and anec- 
dote. Occasionally we visited enlightened friends, 
indulged in domestic jaunts, and recreations from home, 
frequently lounging at the White Bear, Picadilly, with 
his old friend the walking Stewart, and other clever 
travellers from France, and different parts of Europe and 
America. When by ourselves we sat very late, and often 
broke in on the morning hours, indulging the recip- 

*4tti of August, 1789 — the day on which the nobles of France, enlightened by the 
burning of their mansions, "voluntarily" surrendered their privileges (which they 
could not retain,— which were no longer allowed,) not to the people, but to their 
" representatives," the moneyed classes, whose patriotism fomented the revolution, 
and whose philosophy overthrew it. 

t Rickman, p. 100. 



34 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

rocal interchange of affectionate and confidential in- 
tercourse. ' ' 

Paine was now engaged in preparing the second part 
of the Rights OF Man.* The ministry endeavored to 
prevent its publication. Having discovered the printer, 
they employed him to purchase the entire copyright of 
this second part, as well as the remaining copyright of 
the first part. Beginning with an offer of one hundred 
guineas, he increased his bidding to one thousand ; but 
Paine replied, that "he would never put it in the power 
of any printer or publisher to suppress or alter a work of 
his, by making him master of the copy, or give him 
the right of selling it to any minister, or to any other 
person, or to treat as a mere matter of traffic that 
which he intended should operate as a principle." 
Failing in this, the ministry next attempted to delay the 
publication of the work. It contained, among other 

" *The publication of Rights of Man, says Richard Carlisle, in his Life of Paine, 
" formed as great an era in the politics of England as Common Sense had done in 
America: the difference is only this — the latter had an opportunity of being acted 
upon instantly, while the former has had to encounter corruption and persecution ; 
but that it will finally form the basis of the English Government is certain. Its prin- 
ciples are so self-evident that they flash conviction on the most unwilling mind that 
gives the work a calm perusal. The First Part of Rights of Man passed unnoticed 
as to prosecution, nor did Burke venture a reply, though he was mean enough to ad- 
vise a criminal process against its author. The proper principles of a government, 
where the welfare of the community is the object of that government, as the case 
should always be, are so correctly and forcibly laid down in Rights of Man, that the 
book will stand, as long as the English language is spoken, as a monument of politi- 
cal wisdom and integrity. 

"It should be observed that Mr. Paine never sought profit from his writings, and 
when he found that Rights of Man had obtained a peculiar attraction, he gave up the 
copyright to whomsoever would print it, although he had had so high a price offered 
for it. He would always say they were works of principle, written solely to ameliorate 
the condition of mankind, and, as soon as published, the common property of anyone 
who thought proper to circulate them. 

" The First Part of Rights of Man has not that methodical arrangement which is 
to be found in the Second Part, but an apology arises for it: Mr. Paine had to tread the 
" wilderness of rhapsodies " that Burke had prepared for him. The part is, how- 
ever, interspersed with such delightful ornaments, and such indisputable principles, 
that the path does not become tedious. No work has better defined the causes of the 
French Revolution, and the advantages that would have arisen from it had France 
been free from the corrupting influence of foreign powers. 

" After some difficulty, a publisher was found for Rights of Man, in Mr. Jordan, 
late of 166, Fleet-street. The First Part appeared on the 13th of March, 1791, and the 
Second Part on the 16th of February in the following year. The Government was 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 35 

matters, a proposition for reducing the taxes ; and it .was 
desirous that it should appear on the day of the meeting 
of parliament : but the printer, finding he could not 
purchase it, suddenly refused to proceed with the print- 
ing ; and another printer had to be sought for. The 
Appendix furnishes reason to believe, that this honest 
man (the first printer,) regularly forwarded the proof 
sheets to the minister ; and that certain alterations in 
the taxes, &c, proposed by Mr. Pitt, at the opening of 
the session of parliament, were the result of these con- 
fidential communications with the purpose of forestalling 
Paine' s objections. 

The Rights of Man, part the second — combining 
principle and practice — was published by Mr. Jordan, 
on the 16th of February, 1792 ; and the sale equalled 
that of the first part. The following extract from Haz- 
litt, no mean authority, will evidence the sensation 
which the appearance of this masterly work produced : 

" Paine' s ' Rights of Man ' was the only really pow- 
erful reply (to Burke's Reflections), and, indeed, so pow- 
erful and explicit, that the government undertook to 
crush it by an ex-officio information, and by a declaration 
of war against France to still the ferment, and excite 
an odium against its admirers, as taking part with a 

paralyzed at the rapid sale of the First Part, and the appearance of the Second. The 
attempt to purchase having failed, the agents of the Government next set to work to 
ridicule it, and to call it a contemptible work. Whig and Tory members, in both 
houses of Parliament, affected to sneer at it, and to laud our glorious constitution as 
a something impregnable to the assaults of such a book. However, Whig and Tory 
members had just begun to be known, and their affected contempt for Rights of Man 
served but as advertisements, and greatly accelerated its sale. In the month of May, 
1792, the King issued his proclamation, and the King's devil, his ex-officio informa- 
tion, on the very same day, against Rights of Man. This in some measure impeded 
its sale, or occasioned it to be sold in a private manner ; through which means it is 
impossible to give effectual circulation to any publication. One part of the commu- 
nity is afraid to sell, and another to purchase, under such conditions. It is not too 
much to say that, if Rights of Man had obtained two or three years' free circulation 
in England and Scotland, it would have produced a similar effect to that which 
Common Sense did in the United States of America. The French Revolution had 
set the people of England and Scotland to think, and Rights of Man was the book to 
furnish materials for thinking." — Eckler. 



36 liee oe Thomas paine. 

foreign enemy against their prince and country."* The 
following note was left with the publisher, f 

"Feb. 1 c5, 1702. 
"Sir: 

u Should any person, under the sanction of any kind of 
authority, inquire of you respecting the author and pub- 
lisher of the Rights of Man, you will please to mention 
me as the author and publisher of that work, and show 
to such person this letter. I will, as soon as I am made 
acquainted with it, appear and answer for the work per- 
sonally. % 

" Your humble servant, 

"Thomas Paine." 
"Mr. Jordan, 
"No. 166, Fleet-street." 

On the 14th of May, Paine, then at Bromley, in Kent, 
learned that Mr. Jordan had been served with a sum- 
mons to appear at the court of King's Bench ; and he 
immediately appointed a meeting with him, provided a 
solicitor, and engaged to furnish the necessary expenses 
for his defence. Jordan, however, preferred compro- 

* Hazlitt's Life of Napoleon. fShervvin, p. 115. 

" % On reaching Paris," says Richard Carlile, "Paine addressed a letter to the 
English Attorney -General, apprising him of the circumstances of his departure from 
England, and hinting to him that any further prosecution of Rights of Man. would 
form a proof that the author was not altogether the object, but the book, and the 
people of England who should approve its sentiments. A hint was also thrown out 
that the events in France ought to form a lesson for the English Government, on its 
attempt to arrest the progress of correct principles and wholesome truths. This letter 
was in some measure, due to the Attorney-General, as Mr. Paine had written to him in 
England, on the commencement of the prosecution, assuring him that he should de- 
fend the work in person. Notwithstanding his departure, as a member of the French 
National Convention, the information against the Rights of Man was laid before a 
jury, on the 2nd of December, in the same yeai - , and the government and its agents 
were obliged to content themselves with outlawing him, and punishing him in effigy 
throughout the country ! Many a faggot have I gathered in my youth to burn old 
Tom Paine ! In the West of England his name became quite a substitute for that of 
Guy Faux. Prejudice, so aptly termed by Mr. Paine, the spider of the mind, was 
never before carried to such a height against anv other individual ; and what will 
future ages think of the corrupt influence of the English Government at the close of 
the eighteenth century, when it could excite the rancor of a majority of the nation 
against such a man as Thomas Paine?"— Eckler. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAIN^. 37 

mising the matter by agreeing to appear in court and 
plead guilty, which course seeming to imply a condemna- 
tion of the work, partially answered the purpose of the 
ministry. * He also consented to give up all papers in 
his possession relative to the Rights of Man, in order to 
facilitate the conviction of the author, against whom 
proceedings were openly commenced on the 21st of May. 
On the same day that the government commenced legal 
proceedings against Paine, they issued a proclamation 
against "seditious writings," of course not with any 
intention of biasing the minds of a jury. Loyal ad- 
dresses, (words to which sycophants attach their names) 
were also manufactured as a means of counteracting the 
effect of the "wicked and seditious libel," which had 
dared to assert in clear language, and to prove by incon- 
trovertible arguments, the universality and inalienability 
of human rights. Notwithstanding, several addresses of 
a more spirited character congratulated the country "on 
the influence which Mr. Paine' s publications appear to 
have had, in procuring the repeal " (before adverted to) 
"of some oppressive taxes, in the present session of 
parliament ; and hoping that the other great plans of 
public benefit, which Mr. Paine has so powerfully recom- 
mended, will be speedily carried into effect, "f Paine 
was not to be intimidated. About August, of the same 
year,;); he prepared another publication in defence of his 
principles and conduct, entitled A Letter addressed to 
the Addressers on the late Proclamation, a subject most 
favorable for the exercise of his fierce sarcasm, in which 
he thus adverts to the accusation against him : — 

" If to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy and 
every species of hereditary government — to lessen the 
oppression of taxes — to propose plans for the education of 

*Sherwin, p. 116. See also the letter from Paine to Sir Archibald Macdonald, then 
attorney -general, 
t Resolutions of the Manchester Constitutional Society. 
ISherwin, p. 127. 



38 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

helpless infancy, and the comfortable support of the 
aged and distressed — to endeavor to conciliate nations to 
each other — to extirpate the horrid practice of war — to 
promote universal peace, civilization, and commerce — 
and to break the chains of political superstition, and 
raise degraded man to his proper rank ; — if these things 
be libellous, let me live the life of a Libeller, and let the 
name of libeller be engraven on my tomb !" 

In the Letter, he also denies that unprincipled crown- 
lawyers and packed and prejudiced juries are competent 
to decide so momentous a question : whether individuals 
have a right to investigate the principles of government 
and to publish the result of their inquiries ; and contends 
that the government-brand of u wicked and malicious" 
is in reality an attack upon this liberty of expression, a 
liberty ever most dreaded by corrupt power. He had at 
first intended to conduct his defence in person ; but was 
induced to change his purpose by the announcement of 
a French deputation, in September, 1792, that the de- 
partment of Calais had elected him, as their representative 
in the National Convention, This, in his estimation, 
was a matter of more importance than that of defending 
his own conduct before judges predetermined to condemn 
him ; and, accordingly, he proceeded to Dover, with the 
intention of immediately embarking for Calais. At 
Dover he met with much unworthy treatment and an- 
noyance, under cover of the custom-house regulations, 
even his papers not escaping examination ; but he was at 
length suffered to embark, a few minutes before the ar- 
rival of a government order for his detention. His 
reception at Calais was most enthusiastic : a salute was 
fired from the battery ; the soldiers at the gates were 
drawn up in his honor ; he was welcomed with shouts 
of ' ' Long live Thomas Paine ;' ' and was escorted by 
crowds to the Town-hall. On his road to Paris he was 
met with similar demonstrations of respect. He had 




BRISSOT. 



BRISSOT. 



BRISSOT and Condorcet were the most prominent lead- 
ers of the Girondists, and both were the intimate 
friends of Thomas Paine. 

Lamartine describes Brissot as of a mixed character — half 
intrigue, half virtue. Destined to serve as the centre of a 
rallying point to the party of the Gironde, he had, by antici- 
pation, in his character all there was in store for the Giron- 
dists, of destiny, of intrigue and patriotism, of faction and of 
martyrdom. 

" Brissot," says Lamartine, " was the root of the Giron- 
dist party — and the first apostle and first martyr of the 
republic. He wrote La Patriote Fra?i fat's and carried away 
by the logic of his republican principles to the ioth of August 
had displayed, since the conquest of the republic, a force of 
resistance to the factions equal to the power of impulse he had 
previously communicated to the opinion of freemen. A 
stranger to power, his hands uncontaminated by blood or 
spoil, as poor after three years of the Revolution, as he was on 
the day he began to wage war in its cause ; he dwelt for five 
years in an apartment on the fourth story, which was almost 
unfurnished, surrounded by his books and the cradles of his 
children. Every thing attested the mediocrity of his asylum ; 
poor, almost to indigence. After the tumult of the day, and 
the fatigue of labor undergone in the conducting of his jour- 
nal, Brissot walked home to rejoin his wife and young children, 
sheltered in a thatched cottage at St. Cloud. He cherished 
them by his labor as a workmen of the mind. Destitute of 
that exterior of eloquence which gives fire to discussion, and 
bursts out in gesture and accent, he left the tribune to 
Vergniaud. He had created a tribune for himself in his jour- 
nal. In that he wrestled each day with Camille, Robespierre, 
and Marat. His articles were speeches. He voluntarily de- 
voted himself to the hatred and the poignards of the Jacobins. 
The sacrifice of his life was made. But nature had created 
him rather to influence ideas than men. His short and slender 
stature, his meditative and placid figure, the palor and severe 
expression of his features, the melancholy gravity of his physi- 
ognomy, prevented him from displaying outwardly the 
antiquity of soul which burned within." — E. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 39 

been elected deputy for Versailles, * as well as for Calais, 
but preferred representing the latter, as they had first 
elected him.f 

*Sherwin says, for Abbeville and Beauvais also. 

t " On reaching Calais," says Richard Carlile, " the name of Thomas Paine was no 
sooner announced than the beach was crowded ; all the soldiers on duty were drawn 
up; the officer of the guard embraced him on landing, and presented him with the 
national cockade, which a handsome young woman, who was standing by, begged the 
honor of fixing in his hat, and returned it to him, expressing a hope that he would 
continue his exertions in the behalf of Liberty, France, and the Rights of Man. A 
salute was then fired from the battery, to announce to the people of Calais the arrival 
of their new representative. This ceremony being over, he walked to Deissein's, in 
the Rue de l'Egalite (formerly Rue de Roi), the men, women, and children crowding 
around him, and calling out " Vive Thomas Paine !" He was then conducted to the 
Town Hall, and there presented to the municipality, who with the greatest affection 
embraced their representative. The Mayor addressed him in a short speech, which 
was interpreted to him by his friend and conductor, M. Audibert, to which Mr. Paine, 
laying his hand on his heart, replied, that his life should be devoted to their service. 

" At the inn he was waited upon by the different persons in authority, and by the 
President of the Constitutional Society, who desired he would attend their meeting of 
that night. He cheerfully complied with the request, and the whole town would have 
been there had there been room : the hall of the Minimes was so crowded that it was 
with the greatest difficulty they made way for Mr. Paine to the side of the President. 
Over the chair in which he sat was placed the bust of Mirabeau, and the colors of 
France, England, and America united. A speaker acquainted him from the tribune 
with his election, amidst the plaudits of the people. For some minutes after this cere- 
mony nothing was heard but " Vive la Nation!" "Vive Thomas Paine!" in voices 
male and female. 

" On the following day an extra meeting was appointed to be held in the church, in 
honor of their new Deputy to the Convention, the Minimes being found quite suffo- 
cating from the vast concourse of people which had assembled on the previous occa- 
sion. A play was performed at the theatre on the evening after his arrival, and a box 
was specially reserved " for the author of Rights of Alan, the object of the English 
Proclamation." — EckUr. 



40 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE REPRESENTATIVE ; THE PRISONER ; THE INFIDEL. 

OF Paine' s conduct in the National Convention we 
know but little. He voted for the king's trial : 
but exerted himself to prevent the sentence 01 
death.* He was one of a committee, appointed to frame 
the new Constitution, f whose labors were superseded by 
the democratic Constitution, proposed by the Jacobins ; 
and he appears to have sided with the Girondists, the 
moderate reformers who murdered the republic. We do 
not mean by this to impeach his political honesty. It is 
possible that his former acquaintance with La Fayette 
(in America), and with Brissot, may have predisposed 
him to associate with them and their party (among whom, 

* " Louis fell under the guillotine," says Richard Carlile, " and Mr. Paine's depre- 
cation of that act brought down upon him the hatred of the whole Robespierrean 
party, The reign of terror now commenced in France ; every public man who 
breathed a sigh for Louis was denounced as a traitor to the nation, and as such was 
put to death. Every man who complained of the despotism and violence of the 
party in power was hurried to a prison or before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and to 
immediate execution. Mr. Paine, although a Member of the Convention, was first 
excluded on the ground of being a foreigner, and then thrown into prison, because he 
had been born in England! His place of confinement was Luxembourg; the time about 
eleven months, during which he was seized with the most violent fever, that rendered 
him insensible to all that was passing, and to which circumstance he attributes his 
escape from the guillotine. 

" Mr. Paine willingly voted for the trial of Louis, as a necessary exposure of court 
intrigue and corruption ; but when he found a disposition to destroy him at once, in 
preference to banishment, he exposed the safety of his own person in his endeavor to 
save the life of Louis. Mr. Paine was a perfectly humane man ; he deprecated the 
punishment of death on any occasion. His object was to destroy the monarchy, but 
not the man who had filled the office of monarch."— Eckler. 

fin place of the unsatisfactory Constitution of 1791. That of '93 was in its turn set 
aside, to make room for the "moderate" Constitution of '95, the "good intentions" 
of which paved the hell-path of Napoleon. 



UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 41 

no doubt, there were honest men, as there are honest 
men in all parties, ) rather than to seek the companionship 
of those whose u nltra" opinions were not, we may 
be sure, too favorably represented by their adversaries ; 
and once surrounded by the sophistry of ' l respectability, ' ' 
there was little chance of his learning the true characters 
of the real republicans, the Friends of the People. Not 
fully understanding their views, his humanity, too, would 
be enlisted against the extreme section of the Jacobins, who 
feared not to declare, that they deemed the life of a peer, or 
a priest, of no more worth than the life of a proletarian ;* 
and who, while they directed their cannon against the dis- 
tant foe, whetted the guillotine for the more dangerous 
traitors, the hypocritical ' ' friends ' ' at home. That Paine 
acted with the Brissotins, on the trial of L,ouis, and in other 
instances, is evident : but this will no more justify us in 
condemning him as a half-reformer, than their associa- 
tion with him will lead us to infer the soundness of their 
political faith — if they had faith, "who were sure of but 
one thing, that a man and a Girondin ought to have 
footing somewhere, and to stand firmly upon it, keeping 
well "with the respectable classes. "f That Paine in 
principle was a thorough republican, let his own words 
avouch: — "The true, and only true basis of representa- 
tive government is equality of rights. Every man has a 
right to one vote, and no more, in the choice of represen- 
tatives. The rich have no more right to exclude the 
poor from the right of voting, or of electing, and being 
elected, than the poor have to exclude the rich ; and 
wherever it is attempted, it is a question of force, and not 
of right." — Dissertation on First Principles of Govern- 
ment. 

"That which is now called aristocracy, implies an 
inequality of rights. " — lb. 

* Proletarian — One whose only business in the world is to labor and beget laborers. 
T Carlyle's French Revolution. 



42 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

" Inequality of rights is created by a combination in 
one part of the community to exclude another part from 
its rights." — lb. 

"He that would employ his pecuniary property, or 
presume upon the influence it gives him, to dispossess or 
rob another of his property of rights, uses that pecuniary 
property as he would use fire-arms, and merits to have it 
taken from him. " — lb. 

"In any view of the case it is dangerous and impolitic, 
sometimes ridiculous, and always unjust, to make pro- 
perty the criterion of the right of voting. " —lb. 

Hardly prepared were the Girondists to work out these 
principles. These were not their motors. They, the 
virtuous, the philosophic, the always moderate men, 
preferred a property-qualification, which Robespierre, the 
"Incorruptible" (called so even by his enemies), so 
intrepidly denounced. The Constituent Assembly, the 
framers of the so much vaunted Constitution of '91, had 
divided the nation into "active" and "passive" citizens, 
establishing, in opposition to Robespierre and a few 
others, two degrees of qualification for the exercise of the 
universal right. The payment of direct taxes to the 
amount of three days wages was the qualification for 
voting in the primary assemblies, in other words, of 
choosing those who were to elect the deputies, a property- 
qualification being required from these secondary electors. 
It was for opposing this law of disfranchisement, and 
other laws as iniquitous, that Robespierre lost his life, 
and became the Slandered of History. Paine could have 
had but little sympathy with such reformers as these 
Girondists ; and it is hard to account for his moving in 
their ranks. It is manifest from the Rights of Man, 
that, when he wrote that work, he was not aware of the 
manifold delinquencies of the Constituent Assembly.* 

* See, for one instance, where he says, " The Constitution of France says, that every 
man who pays a tax of sixty sous per annum is an elector." We have shown it was 
no such thing, 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 43 

His knowledge of the French language, too, appears to 
have been very imperfect ; and even this may have been 
some hindrance to his forming a just estimate of what 
was passing around him. His addresses in the Conven- 
tion were all written in English, and translated for him. 
His intimacy with Brissot was preserved, partly, because 
Brissot spoke English.* 

The "libeller" was not forgotten in England. On 
the i8th of December his trial came on at the Guildhall, 
London, before Lord Ken von. The result was such as 
might have been anticipated : the judge (as is usual in 
political cases) being a mere tool of the government, the 
jury his obsequious obeyers ; no inquiry being instituted 
as to the truth of the condemned principles ; the only 
question raised, being, whether their publication disturbed 
the government. The jury found a verdict for the crown, 
"without the trouble of deliberation :" — guilty — guilty 
of speaking the truth to enlighten his fellow men, the 
old blasphemy, unforgiven of political or spiritual 
depotism. Mr. Erskine was the defendant's counsel, 
and addressed the jury for some hours, in an able, lawyer- 
like speech, of which Paine remarked, that it was u a 
good speech for himself, but a poor defence of the Rights 
of Man" A number of state prosecutions against the 
vendors of Paine' s works, followed hard upon his convic- 
tion. Any one having a copy of the proscribed book 
was a marked man ; and every endeavor was used by the 
paternal care of the government, to prevent the spreading 
of these "inflammatory" writings — for some time with 
considerable success ; but after a while, as is always the 
case, rather aiding than retarding the advancement of 
the interdicted opinions. Paine' s frequent toast was, 
"The best way of advertising good books: by pros- 
ecution." 

Though the representative of Calais held opinions on 

*Rickman, p. it>3. 



44 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

most questions far beyond the protestations or the policy 
of the Brissot faction,* yet, as was to be expected, his 
connection with them excited suspicion. In the close of 

* Witness the following :—" No question has arisen within the records of history 
that pressed with the importance of the present. It is not whether this or that party 
shall be in or out, whether whig or tory, high or low shall prevail; but whether man 
shall inherit his right, and universal civilization take place? Whether the fruits of 
his labors shall be enjoyed by himself or consumed by the profligacy of governments? 
Whether robbery shall be banished from courts, and wretchedness from countries? 

"When, in countries that are called civilized, we see age going to the work-house, 
and youth to the gallows, something must be wrong in the system of government, li 
would seem, by the exterior appearance of such countries, that all was happiness ; but 
there lies hidden from the eye of common observation, a mass of wretchedness that 
has scarcely any other chance than to expire in poverty or infamy. — 

" Why is it, that scarcely any are executed but the poor? The fact is a proof, among 
other things, of a wretchedness in their condition. Bred up without morals and car-t 
upon the world without a prospect, they are the exposed sacrifice of vice and legal 
barbarity. 

" It is difficult to discover what is meant by the landed interest, if it does not mean a 
combination of aristocratical landholders. — 

" If the Baron merited a monument to be erected in Runnymede, Wat Tyler merits 
one in Smithfield." — Rights of Man, part 2. 

See also, in the same work, Paine's scheme for improving the condition of the poor 
and abolishing the inhuman poor-laws ; also his table of progressive taxation to 
restrict accumulation within certain limits;— and compare the above with the follow- 
ing, from a Declaration of Rights, proposed by Robespierre. It will then be seen how 
well Paine and Robespierre accorded ; and how little the former was that unprincipled 
emasculation, self-named a "moderate reformer." 

" Art. 1. The end of all political associations is the maintenance of the natural and 
imprescriptible rights of man, and the development of all his faculties. 

"Art 2. The principal rights of man are those of providing for the preservation of 
his existence and liberty. 

" Art. 3. These rights belong to all men equally. 

" Art. 7. The right' of property is limited, like all other rights, by the obligation to 
respect the rights of others. 

"Art. 10. Society is under obligation to provide subsistence for all its members, 
either by procuring employment for them, or by insuring the means of existence to 
those that are incapable of labor. 

" Art. 11. The relief indispensable to those that are in want of necessaries is a debt 
due from the possessors of superfluities. It belongs to the law to determine the 
manner in which the debt should be discharged. 

"Art. 12. Citizens, where the income does not exceed what is necessary to their 
subsistence, are dispensed from contributing to the public expenditure. The rest 
ought to contribute progressively, according to the extent of their fortunes. 

" Art. 21. All the citizens are equally admissable to all public functions 

" Art. 22. All the citizens have an equal right to concur in the nomination of the 
delegates of the people. 

"Art. 29. When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is 
for the people, and for every portion of the people, the most sacred of rights, and the 
most indispensable of duties. 

"Art. jo. When the social guarantee, or compact, fails to protect a citizen, he 
resumes his natural right to defend personally all his rights. 

" Art. 31. In either of the two preceding cases, to subject to legal forms the resist- 
ance to oppression, is the last refinement of tyranny."— Maximilien Robespierre, given 
in Buonarroti's History ofBabeufs Conspiracy for Equality. 




COKDORCET, 



CONDORCET. 



CONDORCET, says Lamartine, " was a philosopher, 
as intrepid in his actions as bold in his speculations. 
His political creed was a consequence of his phi- 
losophy. He believed in the divinity of reason, and in the 
omnipotence of the human understanding, with liberty as its 
handmaid. Heaven, the abode of all ideal perfections, and in 
which man places his most beautiful dreams, was limited by 
Condorcet to earth : his science was his virtue ; the human 
mind his deity. The intellect impregnated by science, and 
multiplied by time, it appeared to him must triumph necessa- 
rily over all the resistance of matter ; must lay bare all the 
creative powers of nature, and renew the face of creation. He 
had made of this system a line of politics, whose first idea was 
to adore the future and abhor the past. He had the cool 
fanaticism of logic, and the reflective anger of conviction. A 
pupil of Voltaire, D'Alembert, and Helvetius, he, like Bailly, 
was of that intermediate generation by which philosophy was 
embodied with the Revolution. More ambitious than Bailly, 
he had not his impassibility. Aristocrat by birth, he, like 
Mirabeau, had passed over to the camp of the people. He 
had become one of the people, in order to convert the people 
into the army of philosophy. He wanted of the republic no 
more than was sufficient to overturn its prejudices. Ideas 
once become victorious, — he would willingly have confided it 
to the control of a constitutional monarchy. He was rather a 
man for dispute than a man of anarchy. Aristocrats always 
carry with them, into the popular party, the desire of order 
and command. They would fain 

" ' Ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm.' 

Real anarchists are those who are impatient of having always 
obeyed, and feel themselves impotent to command. 

"Condorcet had edited the Chronique de Paris from 1789. 
It was a journal of constitutional doctrines, but in which the 
throbbings of anger were perceivable beneath the cool and 
polished hand of the philosopher. Had Condorcet been en- 
dowed with warmth and command of language, he might have 
been the Mirabeau of another assembly. He had his earnest- 
ness and constancy, but had not the resounding and energetic 
tone which made his own soul and feelings felt by another."-E. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 45 

1793, he lost his seat in the Convention, in consequence 
of a successful motion, made by Bourdon de 1,'Oise, for 
expelling foreigners from that body ; and immediately 
afterwards, he was arrested and conveyed to the Luxem- 
bourg, by order of the Committees of Public Safety and 
General Surety (of which Barrere and Vadier were 
presidents, and Robespierre not "dictator",) in pur- 
suance of a former decree for imprisoning natives of 
England, from which Paine had been excepted in virtue 
of his seat in the Convention. 

The following, from Rickman, gives us a tolerable 
insight into his private life in Paris: — "His com- 
pany was now coveted universally — by many who for 
some reasons never chose to avow it. With the Karl of 
Lauderdale, and Dr. Moore, whose company he was fond 
of, he dined every Friday, till Lord Gower's departure 
made it necessary for them to quit France, which was 
early in 1793. About this period he removed from 
White's Hotel to one near the Rue Richelieu, where he 
was so plagued and interrupted by numerous visitors, 
and sometimes by adventurers, that, in order to have 
some time to himself, he appropriated two mornings in 
a week for his levee days. To this indeed he was 
extremely averse, from the fuss and formality attending 
it, but he was nevertheless obliged to adopt it. Annoyed 
and disconcerted with a life so contrary to his wishes and 
habits, he retired to the Fauxbourg St. Dennis,* where 

* He himself says, " In 1793, I had lodgings in the Rue Fauxbourg St. Dennis, No 63. 
They were the most agreeable for situation of any I ever had in Paris, except that 
they were too remote from the Convention, of which I was then a member. The 
house, which was enclosed by a wall and gateway from the street, was a good deal 
like an old mansion farmhouse, and the court-yard, was like a farm-yard, stocked 
with fowls, ducks, turkeys, and geese; which, for amusement, we used to feed out of 
the window of the parlor on the ground floor. There were some huts for rabbits, and 
a stye with two pigs. Beyond was a garden of more than an acre of ground, well 
laid out, and stocked with excellent fruit trees. The orange, apricot, and the green- 
gage plum were the best I ever tasted ; and it is the only place where I saw 
the wild cucumber, which they told me is poisonous. My apartments consisted 
of three rooms. The first for wood, water, &c, with an old fashioned closet chest, 
H°h enough to hang up clothes in- The next was the bedroom, and beyond that the 
sitting-room. At the end of the sitting-room, which looked into the garden, was a 



46 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE* 

he occupied part of the hotel that Madame de Pompadour 
once resided in. Here was a good garden, well laid out ; 
and here too our mutual friend Mr. Choppin occupied 
apartments. At this residence, which for a town one 
was very quiet, he lived a life of retirement and philoso- 
phical ease, while it was believed he was gone into the 
country for his health, which by this time indeed was 
much impaired by intense application to business, and 
by the anxious solicitude he felt for the welfare of public 
affairs. Here with a chosen few he unbent himself; 
among whom were Brissot, the Marquis de Chatelet le 
Roi of the gallerie de honore,* and an old friend of 
Dr. Franklin, Bancal, and sometimes General Miranda. 
His English associates were Christie and family, Mrs. 
Wollstouecraft, Mr. and Mrs. Stone, &c. Among his 
American friends were Capt. Imlay, Joel Barlow, &c. , &c. 
To these parties the French inmates were generally 
invited. — He usually rose about seven, breakfasted with 
his friend Choppin, Johnson, and two or three other 
Englishmen, and a Monsieur L,a Borde, who had been an 
officer in the ci-devant garde-du-corps, an intolerable 
aristocrat, but whose skill in mechanics and geometry 
brought on a friendship between him and Paine. — After 
breakfast he usually strayed an hour or two in the garden, 
where he one morning pointed out the kind of spider 
whose web furnished him with the first idea of construct- 
ing his iron bridge. — The little happy circle who lived 
with him here will ever remember these days with delight : 
with these select friends he would talk of his boyish days, 
play at chess, whist, piquet, or cribbage, and enliven the 
moments by many interesting anecdotes : with these he 

glass door, and on the outside a small landing-place railed in, and a flight of narrow 
stairs almost hidden by the vines that grew over it, by which I could descend into 
the garden, without going down stairs through the house. I used to find some relief by 
walking alone in the garden after it was dark, and cursing with hearty good will the 
authors of that terrible system, that had turned the character of the revolution I had 
been proud to defend." — Yorke's Letters from France. 
* Possibly du Chatelet du Roi of the galerie d'honneur. 






UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 47 

would play at marbles, scotch hops, battledores, &c, on 
the broad and fine gravel walk at the upper end of the 
garden ; and then retire to his boudoir, where he was up 
to his knees in letters and papers of various descriptions. 
Here he remained till dinner time ; and, unless he visited 
Brissot's family or some particular friend in the evening, 
which was his frequent custom, he joined again a society 
of his favorites and fellow-boarders, with whom his con- 
versation was often witty and cheerful, always acute and 
improving, but never frivolous. ' ' * 

"On the day of the trial of Marat, Mr. Paine dined at 
White's Hotel with Mr. Milnes, a gentleman of great 
hospitality and profusion, who usually gave a public 
dinner to twenty or thirty gentlemen, once a week. At 
table, among many others besides Mr. Paine, was a Capt. 
Grimstone, a high aristocrat. He took little pains to 
conceal his political principles, and when the glass had 
freely circulated a short" time after dinner, he attempted 
loudly and impertinently to combat the political doctrines 
of the philosopher. Mr. Paine in few words, with much 
acuteness and address, continued exposing the fallacy of 
his reasoning, and rebutting his invectives. The captain 
became more violent, and waxed so angry, that at length, 
rising from his chair, he walked around the table to 
where Mr. Paine was sitting; and here began a volley of 
abuse, calling him incendiary, traitor to his country, and 
struck him a violent blow that nearly knocked him off his 
seat. Capt. Grimstone was a stout young man about 
thirty, and Mr. Paine at this time nearly sixty. The 
company, who had occasion frequently during dinner to 
call him to order, were now obliged to give him in charge 
of the national guard. An act of the Convention had 
made it death to strike a deputy, and every one in com- 
pany with the person committing the assault, refusing to 
give up the offender, was considered an accomplice. 

* Rickman, p. 129 to 136. 



48 UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

Paine immediately applied to Barrere, at that time 
president of the Committee of Public Safety, for a pass- 
port for the unhappy man, who must otherwise have 
suffered death ; and at length accomplished it, at the same 
time sending Grimstone money to defray his travelling 
expenses; for his passport was of so short a duration, 
that he was obliged to go immediately from his prison to 
the messagerie nationale."* 

At the time of his arrest, Paine confided to his friend 
Joel Barlow, the manuscript of the first part of the Age 
OF Reason. A considerable portion of the second part 
was written during his imprisonment, (pens, ink, and 
paper being- allowed even in the " Reign of Terror.") 
He also amused his prison hours with the composition of 
several trifles, both in prose and verse. 

When he had been in the Luxembourg about three 
weeks, t the Americans resident in Paris went in a body 
to the Convention to demand his liberation; but were 
answered that Mr. Paine was born in England : it was also 
signified to them that their act had uo.authority from the 
American government.! The American ambassador, 
Morris, did not interfere in his behalf. Washington, too, 
neglected him. " I had been imprisoned seven months, 
and the silence of the executive part of the govern- 
ment of America (Mr. Washington) upon the case, 
and upon every thing respecting me, was explanation 
enough to Robespierre that he might proceed to ex- 
tremities. A violent fever, which had nearly termin- 
ated my existence, was, I believe, the circumstance that 
preserved it. I was not in a condition to be removed, or 
to know of what was passing, for more than a month. 
It makes a blank in my remembrance of life. The first 
thing I was informed of was the fall of Robespierre. 
About a week after this Mr. Monroe arrived to supersede 

*Rickman, p. 151-2-3. fSherwin.p. 152. 

% Paine's Letter to George Washington, Paris, August 3, 1796. 




MA11AME .ROLAND. 



MADAME ROLAND. 



PRECEDING the Revolution in France, whilst Louis XVI. still retained his throne, 
and before the organization of the Girondists and Jacobins, the leading patriots of 
France frequently assembled at the home of a young woman, daughter of an engraver of 
the Quai des Orfevres. "It was there, 11 says Lamertine, "that the two parties of the 
Uironde and Montagne assembled, united, separated, and after having acquired power, 
and overturned the monarchy in company, tore the bosom of their country with their dis- 
sensions, and destroyed liberty, whilst they destroyed each other. 

" It was neither ambition, nor fortune, nor celebrity which had successively attracted 
these men to this woman's residence ; it was conformity of opinion ; it was that devoted 
friendship which chosen spirits like to render to a new truth which promises happiness to 
mankind. The ardent and pure mind of a fe.nale was worthy of becoming the focus to 
which converged all the rays of the new truth in order to become prolific in the warmth of 
the heart. Men have the spirit of truth, woman only its passion, 'l here is invariably a 
woman at the beginning of all great undertakings ; one was requisite to the principle of 
the French Revolution, and philosophy found this woman in Madame Roland. 

"Young, lovely, radiant with genius, nature had endowed her with an understanding 
even superior to her beauty. A tall and supple figure, prominent bust, modest and be- 
coming demeanor, black and soft hair, blue eyes, which appeared brown in the depths of 
their reflection, a skin marb'.ed with the animation of life and veined by blood which the 
least impression sent mounting to her cheeks, a tone of voice which borrowed its vibra- 
tions from the deepest fibres of her heart, and was modulated to its finest movements. 

" Her understanding lightened this beauteous frame with an intelligence which seemed 
like inspiration. Her active mind had need of all the means of thought, for its due exer- 
cise. Theology, history, philosophy, music, painting, dancing, the exact sciences, chem- 
istry, and foreign languages she learned and desired still more. The works of Rousseau, 
Voltaire, Montesquieu, and the English philosophers were read by her, but her preference 
was for Plutarch and Fenelon. 

"Philosophy became her creed, and this creed formed a portion of her politics. The 
emancipation of the people united itself in her mind with the emancipation of ideas. She 
believed by overturning thrones that she was working for men ; and by overturning altars 
that she was laboring for God. 

The hour of the Revolution of '89 had struck, and Madame Roland felt a fire kindled 
within her, which was never to be quenched but in her blood. All the love which lay 
slumbering in her soul was converted into enthusiasm and devotion for the human race. 
All her repressed feelings were poured forth in her opinions ; she avenged herself on her 
destiny, which refused her individual happiness, by sacrificing herself for the happiness 
of others. 

"On the twentieth of February, Roland returned to Paris, and the Salon of Madame 
became a focus of the Revolution. It was here that she first met Thomas Paine, who, 
she says, from the boldness of his ideas and the originality of his style, was listened to as 
an oracle by Condorcet and Brissot, and acknowledged as a master by Robespierre. 

" It is the lot of some individuals to attract a greater degree of interest and curiosity 
on the part of posterity than the records of an empire, for such persons have united in 
their situation and feelings — their alternate rise and fall — all the vicissitudes, catas- 
trophes, glories, and misfortunes of the time in which they lived. Madame Roland was 
one of this class. Her enthusia nn and passion, her illusions, her martyrdom, her unex- 
tinguishable hope for the future, amid the actual discouragement of the present, ren- 
dered her, even in the very depths of her dungeon, a living personification of the whole 
Revolution. 

" At the fall of the Girondists, Madame Roland bravely steeled her heart against 
persecution, and beheld in death only a refuge for her virtue, and a brilliant immor- 
tality for her name. At her trial she exclaimed to her judges, 'I thank you for con 
sidering me worthy to share the fate of the good and great men you have murdered. 1 
" After the execution of Lamarche, which she heard without changing color, Madame 
Roland stepped lightly up to the scaffold, and bowing before the statue of Liberty, as 
though to do homage to a power for whom she was about to die, exclaimed, ' O Liberty ! 
Liberty 1 how many crimes are committed in thy name ! ' ,1 — E. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 49 

Gouverneur Morris, and as soon as I was able to write a 
note legible enough to be read, I found a way to convey 
one to him by means of the man who lighted the lamps 
in the prison ; and whose unabated friendship for me, 
from whom he had never received any service, and with 
difficulty accepted any recompense, puts the character of 
Mr. Washington to shame. In a few days I received a 
message from Mr. Monroe, conveyed to me in a note from 
an intermediate person, with assurance of his friendship, 
and expressing a desire that I would rest the case in his 
hands. After a fortnight or more had passed, hearing 
nothing further, I wrote to a friend who was then in Paris, 
a citizen of Philadelphia, requesting him to inform me 
what was the true situation of things with respect to me. 
I was sure that something was the matter ; I began to 
have hard thoughts of Mr. Washington, but I was unwill- 
ing to encourage them. In about ten days, I received 
an answer to my letter, in which the writer says, 'Mr. 
Monroe has told me that he has no order (meaning from 
the president, Mr. Washington) respecting you, but that 
he (Mr. Monroe) will do every thing in his power to 
liberate you ; but from what I learn from the Americans 
lately arrived in Paris, you are not considered either by 
the American government, or by individuals, as an 
American citizen.' Upon the receipt of the letter, I sent 
a memorial to Mr. Monroe, and received from him the 
following answer. It is dated the 18th of September, 
but did not come to hand till about the 18th of October. 
I was then falling into a relapse, the weather was becom- 
ing damp and cold, fuel was not to be had, and an 
abscess in my side, the consequence of those things, and 
of want of air and exercise, was beginning to form, and 
has continued immovable ever since. ' ' * Monroe, in his 
reply, states that Congress had not decided upon the 
question of citizenship, but that the Americans, ' * the 

* Letter to Washington, 



50 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINK. 

great mass of people," could not be otherwise than 
interested in his welfare. Of Washington he speaks 
cautiously and evasively, thus: — "Of the sense which 
the President has always entertained of your merits, and 
of his friendly disposition towards you, you are too well 
assured to require any declaration of it from me. That 
I forward his wishes in seeking your safety is what I well 
know ; and this will form an additional obligation on me 
to perform what I should otherwise consider as a duty."* 
This almost amounts to an acknowledgment that Wash- 
ington had given no orders whatever about him. 

In a letter written by Paine after his return to America, f 
we find the following "miraculous intervention :" 

"One hundred and sixty-eight persons were taken out 
of the Luxembourg in one night, and a hundred and sixty 
of them guillotined the next day, of which I know I was 
to have been one ; and the manner I escaped that fate is 
curious and has all the appearance of accident. The 
room in which I was lodged was on the ground floor, and 
one of along range of rooms under a gallery, and the 
door of it opened outward and flat against the wall ; so 
that when it was open the inside of the door appeared 
outward, and the contrary when it was shut. I had three 
comrades, fellow-prisoners with me, Joseph Vanhuile 01 
Bruges, since president of the municipality of that town, 
Michael Robins, and Bastini of!,ouvain. When persons 
by scores and hundreds were to be taken out of prison 
for the guillotine, it was always done in the night, and 
those who performed that office had a private mark or 
signal, by which they knew what rooms to go to, and 
what number to take. We, as I have said, were four, 
and the door of our room was marked, unobserved by us, 
with that number in chalk ; but it happened, if happen- 
ing is a proper word, that the mark was put on when the 
door was open and flat against the wall, and thereby 

* Letter to Washington. t Sherwin, p. 161-2. 




JAMES MONROE 



JAMES MONROE TO THOMAS PAINE. 



IT is not necessary for me to tell you how ,much all 
your countrymen — I speak of the great mass 
of the people — are interested in your welfare. They 
have not forgotten the history of their own revolution 
and the difficult scenes through which they passed ; nor 
do they review its several stages without reviving in 
their bosoms a due sensibility of the merits of those who 
served them in that great and arduous conflict. The 
crime of ingratitude has not yet stained, and I trust 
never will stain, our national character. You are con- 
sidered by them as not only having rendered important 
services in our own revolution, but as being on a more 
extensive scale the friend of human rights, and a dis- 
tinguished and able defender of public liberty. To the 
welfare of Thomas Paine the Americans are not, nor can 
they be indifferent. 

JAMES MONROE. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 51 

came on the inside when we shut it at night, and the 
destroying angel passed by it. A few days after this 
Robespierre fell. ' ' Yet though that ' ( sanguinary tyrant ' ' 
was murdered by the "Moderates" on the 28th of 
July, 1794, Paine did not obtain his liberty (and then 
through much exertion on the part of Monroe) till the 
4th of November following.* He himself says, "All 
that period of my imprisonment, at least, I owe to George 

Washington, "f 

After his liberation he found a friendly home in the 
house of Monroe, J (afterwards president of the United 
States), with whom he resided, for eighteen months. 
His constitution suffered materially from his confine- 
ment : and thus circumstanced he hastened to complete 
the second part of the Age of Reason. The first part 
had also been produced under great disadvantages. He 
says, in the preface to the second part : — "It had long been 
my intention to publish my thoughts upon religion ; but 
I had reserved it to a later period in life, intending it to 
be the last work I should undertake. The circumstances, 
however, which existed in France in the latter end of the 
year 1792, determined me to delay it no longer. I saw 
many of my most intimate friends" (Brissot among 
others) "destroyed; others daily carried to prison : and 
I had reason to believe, and had also intimations given 
me, that the same danger was approaching myself. 
Under these disadvantages, I began the former part of 
the Age of Reason ; I had, besides, neither Bible nor 
Testament to refer to, though I was writing against both ; 
nor could I procure any ; notwithstanding which, I have 
produced a work that no Bible believer, though writing 
at his ease, and with a library of church books about 
him, can refute. Towards the latter end of December of 
that year, a motion was made and carried, to exclude 

* Letter to Washington. f Ibid. 

% Rickman, p, 164; Sherwin, p. 159. 



52 UFE OF THOMAS PAINK. 

foreigners from the Convention. There were but two in 
it, Anacharsis Clootz and myself ; and I saw I was partic- 
ularly pointed at by Bourdon del'Oise, in his speech on 
that motion. Conceiving, after this, that I had but a 
few days of liberty, I sat down and brought the work to 
a close as speedily as possible : and I had not finished it 
more than six hours, in the state it has since appeared, 
before a guard came, with an order for putting me in 
arrestation. ' ' 

The first part of the Age of Reason was probably pub- 
lished by Barlow, * during Paine' s imprisonment. The 
second part made its appearance about the end of 1795. t 

At the invitation of a unanimous vote of the Conven- 
tion, Paine resumed his seat ; but it would seem that he 
little accorded with the now unmasked Respectables, 
then manufacturing a new constitution to displace that 
of '93, which, principally framed by Robespierre, had 
received the sanction of four millions of adult French- 
men.! More especially he contended against that odious 
distinction (formerly so strenuously opposed by the 
maligned Robespierre) between direct and indirect taxes 
as qualifications for the rights of citizenship. § His 
objections had little weight with the Convention ; and a 
new election following the formation of the "Constitu- 
tion," Paine was not re-elected. Possibly his opinions 
were too extreme for the new regime of shopocrats. 

During the English invasion of Holland, he went to 
Brussels, where he passed a few days with General 
Brune. || u For some years before he left Paris, he lodged 
at M. Bonville's," (Bonneville), "associating occa- 
sionally with the great men of the day, Condorcet,1f 

* Gorton's Biographical Dictionary. 

f Sherwin says, early in '95, but Paine's Letter to Washington, contradicts this. 
\ Buonarroti's History of Babeuf's Conspiracy for Equality. 
§ Sherwin, p. 175. II Yorke's Letters from France. 

% Condorcet died 28th of March, 1791. Paine's acquaintance with him must have been 
previous to his imprisonment. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 53 

Volney, Mercier, Joel Barlow, &c, &c., and sometimes 
dining with Bonaparte and his generals."* The fol- 
lowing is amusing : When Bonaparte returned from 
Italy " he called on Mr. Paine, and invited him to din- 
ner : in the course of his rapturous ecstacies, he declared 
that a statue of gold ought to be erected to him in 
every city in the universe ; he also assured him that he 
always slept with his Rights of Man under his pillow, 
and conjured him to honor him with his correspond- 
ence and advice."f 

"Paine now indulged his mechanical taste, and 
amused himself in bridge and ship modelling, and in 
pursuing his favorite studies, the mathematics and natu- 
ral philosophy. 'These models,' says a correspondent 
of that time, J ' exhibit an extraordinary degree not only 
of skill, but of taste in mechanics ; and are wrought 
with extreme delicacy entirely by his own hands. The 
largest of these, the model of a bridge, is nearly four 
feet in length : the iron-works, the chains, and every 
other article belonging to it were forged and manufac- 
tured by himself. It is intended as the model of a bridge 
which is to be constructed across the Delaware, extend- 
ing four hundred and eighty feet with only one arch. 
He also forged himself the model of a crane of a new de- 
scription, which, when put together, exhibited the 
power of the lever to a most surprising degree.' "§ 

Soon after the publication of the second part of the 
Age of Reason, he gave to the world his Dissertation on 
First Principles of Government ; Agrarian Justice, op- 
posed to Agrarian Law and to Agrarian Monopoly ; 
and The Decline and Fall of the English System of 
Finance. In 1796, too, he published his Letter to 
George Washington. In 1797 he published A Discourse 
delivered to the Society of Theophilanthropists at Paris 

* Rickman, p. 164. f Yorke's Letters from France. 

% Redhead Yorke. \ Rickman, p. 165. 



54 UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

(a society of which he had been a principal promoter) - f 
A Letter to the People of France on the events of the 18 th 
Fructidor ; and A Letter to Camille Jordan, on Priests, 
Bells, and Public Worship* His popularity was now 
waning, in consequence of his assault upon the Bible. 
If we may believe Mr. Yorke's Letters from France in 
1802, he, who had been obliged by the press of visitors 
to appoint regular levee days, was then the lonely hab- 
itant of the second story of a bookseller's in the Rue du 
Theatre Francais ; occupying u a little dirty room, con- 
taining a small wooden table and two chairs. The 
chimney-hearth was a heap of dirt ; there was not a 
speck of cleanliness to be seen ; three shelves were filled 
with pasteboard boxes, each labelled after the manner of 
a minister of foreign affairs, Correspondence Americaine, 
Britannique, Frangaise ; Notices Politiques ; L.e Citoyen 
Frangais,^ &c. In one corner of the room stood several 
huge bars of iron, curiously shaped, and two large 
trunks ; opposite the fireplace, a board covered with 
pamphlets and journals, having more the appearance of a 
dresser in a scullery than a sideboard. — Mr. Paine came 
down stairs, and entered the room, dressed in a long 
flannel gown. Time seemed to have made dreadful rav- 
ages over his whole frame, and a settled melancholy 
was visible on his countenance. n 

He was detained in France much longer than he de- 
sired, through fear of the British cruisers. "When 
Monroe left France, to return to America, ' ' he says, ( ' I 
was to have gone with him : it was fortunate I did not. 
The vessel he sailed in was visited by a British frigate, 
that searched every part of it, and down to the hold, for 
Thomas Paine. I then went, the same year, to embark 
at Havre ; but* several British frigates were cruising in 
sight of the port, who knew I was there, and I had to 
return again to Paris. Seeing myself thus cut off from 

* Sherwin, p. 175 to 181. f In which he is said to have written. 




DANTOJST. 



DANTON. 



D ANTON, whom the Revolution had found an obscure barrister at the Chatelet, had 
increased with it in influence. He had already, says Lamertine, that celebrity which 
the multitude assigns to him whom it sees every where, and always listens to. He was 
one of those men who seem born of the stir of revolutions, and which float on its surface 
until it swallows them up. All in him was like the mass — athletic, rude, coarse. He 
pleased them because he resembled them. His eloquence was like the loud clamor of the 
mob. His brief and decisive phrases had the martial curtness of command. His irre- 
sistible gestures gave impulse to his plebian auditories. Ambition was his sole line of 
politics. Devoid of honor, principles, or morality, he only loved democracy because it 
was exciting. It was his element, and he plunged into it. He was intoxicated with the 
revolutionary vertigo as a man becomes drunken with wine ; yet he bore his intoxication 
well. He had that superiority of calmness in the confusion he created, which enabled 
him to control it : preserving sang froid in his excitement and his temper, even in a mo- 
ment of passion, he jested with the clubs in their stormiest moods. A burst of laughter 
interrupted bitterest imprecations ; and he amused the people even whilst he impelled 
them to the uttermost pitch of fury. 

He was only with the people because he was of the people, and thus the people ought 
to triumph. He would have betrayed it, as he served it, unscrupulously. The court well 
knew the tariff of his conscience. He threatened it in order to make it desirous of buying 
him ; he only opened his mouth in order to have it stuffed with gold. His most revolu- 
tionary movements were but the marked prices at which he was purchasable. His hand 
was in every intrigue, and his honesty was not checked by any offer of corruption. 
He was bought daily, and next morning was again for sale. Mirabeiu, La Fayette, 
Montmorin, M. De Laporte, the intendant of the civil list, the Due d'Orleans, the king 
himself, all knew his price. Money had flowed with him from all sources, even the most 
impure, without remaining with him. Any other individual would have felt shame before 
men and parties who had the secret of his dishonor ; but he only was not ashamed, and 
looked them in the face without a blush. His was the quietude of vice.* 

Danton and his friend Lacroix were arrested and thrown into the same cell. He de- 
sired, towards the middle of the day, to take exercise, like the rest of the detenus, in the " 
corridors. The gaolers dared not refuse some steps in the prison to the man who ruled 
the Convention on the evening before. Herault de Sechelles ran and embraced him. 
Danton affected indifference and gaiety. " When men do foolish things," said he, 
shrugging his shoulders at Herault de Sechelles, " they must- know how to laugh at them. 11 
Then, perceiving Thomas Paine, the American Democrat, he approached him, and said 
with sorrow, " That which you have done for your country, I have endeavored to do for 
mine." 

Danton assumed a lofty air on the scaffold, and seemed as if he measured out 
his pedestal. Never in the tribune had he been more haughty — more imposing. He 
cast, right and left, a glance of pity, and seemed by his attitude to say, "Look at me 
well. You will not look upon my like again." Bit nature for a moment overcame this 
pride. A cry escaped him, torn from him by the remembrance of his young wife. " Oh 
my best beloved ! " he exclaimed with moistened eyes, "I shall never see thee more !" 
Then, as if reproaching himself for his weakness, he said aloud : " Come, come, Danton, 
no weakness." Then he turned towards the headsman and said, with an air of author- 
ity ; " You will show my head to the people — it will be well worth the display!" His 
head fell, and the executioner complying with his last wish, caught it from the basket, 
and carried it round the scaffold — the mob applauded ! Thus end favorites ! 

Thus died on the stage before the multitude the man for whom the scaffold was also a 
theatre, and who desired to die applauded, at the close of the tragic drama of his life, as 
he had been at the beginning and in the middle, His only deficiency as a great man was 
virtue. He had its nature, cause, genius, exterior, destiny, death, but not its conscience. 
He played the great man, but was not one. There is no greatness in a part —there is 
greatness only in the actual faith. Danton had the feeling, frequently the passion of 
liberty, but not the faith, for internally he proteased no worship but that of renown.— E. 

* " Infamous and coutented."— Juniits. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 55 

every opportunity that was in my power to command, I 
wrote to Mr. Jefferson, that if the fate of the election 
should put him in the chair of the presidency, and he 
should have occasion to send a frigate to France, he 
would give me the opportunity of returning by it, which 
he did" (in a letter dated July, 1802); "but I declined 
coming by the Maryland, the vessel that was offered me, 
and waited for the frigate that was to bring the new 
minister, Mr. Chancellor Livingston, to France ; but 
that frigate was ordered round to the Mediterranean ; 
and as at that time the war was over, and the British 
cruisers called in, I could come any way ; I then agreed 
to come with Commodore Barney in a vessel he had 
engaged. It was again fortunate I did not, for the vessel 
sunk at .sea, and the people were preserved in the boat. 
Had half the number of evils befallen me, that the 
number of dangers amount to through which I have been 
preserved, there are those who would ascribe it to the 
wrath of heaven ; why then do they not ascribe my pre- 
servation to the protecting favor of heaven?" * 

On the 1st of September, 1802, disgusted with the 
loyal apathy of England and the "slavish politics"! 
of Consular France, Paine turned his back on Europe, 
embarking in the London packet, at Havre de Grace for 
America, after an absence of fifteen years. 

*No. 4 of the Letters to the Citizens of the United States. 

f " After Bonaparte had usurped the sovereign power," says Richard Carlile, " and 
everything in the shape of a representative system of government had subsided, Mr. 
Paine led quite a retired life, saw but little company, and for many years brooded 
over the misfortunes of France, and the advantages it had thrown away, by antici- 
pating its present disgrace. He saw plainly, that all the benefits which the Revolu- 
tion ought to have preserved would be foiled by the military ambition of Bonaparte. 
He would not allow the epithet Republic to be applied to it, without condemning such 
an association of ideas, and insisted upon it that the United States of America was 
alone of all the governments on the face of the earth, entitled to that honorable appel- 
lation." — Eckler. 



56 UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE ABANDONED. 

WE have followed our " rebellious needleman" 
from obscurity to the summit of literary fame, 
to the zenith of political glory ; we have seen 
kings and rulers of nations quailing at his unprivileged 
words ; priestcraft has shrunk back aghast, for his grip 
is on her : it is time for him to rest. But old age and 
disease are undermining the Overthrower of thrones and 
altars ; and as if these were all the household comforts a 
worn-out man can need, old friends are falling off,, and 
some begin to think that u he has gone too far" — has 
been too much in earnest. Truly, it requires some 
virtue — greater virtue than may get a name in a revolu- 
tion — to stand by him who likes no abuses. England has 
cast him forth : he was not to be bought with place or 
pension ; neither would he take holy orders. France, 
counter-revolutionized, would disenfranchise such as he. 
And America, his "beloved America," is too proud of 
her independence to welcome back the — infidel. Cer- 
tainly, to no men are reformers more offensive than to 
their friends, the slower-paced. Let a man be advised : 
and be careful to cut his conscience to the stature of his 
friends ! There will be no condemnation like theirs. 
"Why, we are liberal ; but we cannot tolerate that:" — 
Doubtless a sufficient proof of your liberality ! The thou- 
sand thousand to whom Common Sense was given, to say 
nothing of some little efficient service in the war for 
Independence, independent as they were, crowded not to 




"- . >fM iiJlJI , !!l!illii:i!ij 

MARAT, 



MARAT. 



MARAT, says Lamartine in his History of the Giron- 
dists, " was born in Switzerland. A writer without 
talent, a savant without reputation, with a desire 
for fame without having received from society or nature the 
means of acquiring- either, he revenged himself on all that was 
great not only in society but in nature. Genius was as hate- 
ful to him as aristocracy. Wherever he saw anything elevated 
or striking he hunted it down as though it were a deadly 
enemy. He would have levelled creation. Equality was his 
mania, because superiority was his martyrdom ; he loved the 
Revolution because it brought down all to his level ; he loved 
it even to blood, because blood washed out the stain of his 
long-enduring obscurity ; he made himself a public denouncer 
by the popular title ; he knew that denouncement is flattery to 
all who tremble, and the people are always trembling. A real 
prophet of demagogueism, inspired by insanity, he gave his 
nightly dreams to daily conspiracies. The Seid of the people, 
he interested it by his self-devotion to its interests. He 
affected mystery like all oracles. He lived in obscurity, and 
only went out at night ; he only communicated with his fel- 
lows with the most sinistrous precautions. A subterranean 
cell was his residence, and there he took refuge safe from 
poignard and poison. His journal affected the imagination 
like something supernatural. Marat was wrapped in real 
fanaticism. The confidence reposed in him nearly amounted 
to worship. The fumes of the blood he incessantly demanded 
had mounted to his brain. He was the delirium of the Revo- 
lution, himself a living delirium ! " — E. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 57 

the sea-shore to hail back their friend, not the least to be 
esteemed among their liberators. Even Washington had 
forgotten his own hand-writing ; or held he too precise 
a memory of Paine' s angry letter from Paris, thus ending 
— u As to you, Sir, treacherous in private friendship and 
a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to 
decide, whether you are an apostate or an impostor, 
whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether 
you ever had any."* That letter, too, contained some 
ill-looking facts, not yet cleared up : at least Peter 
Porcupine's Answer says nothing. Such things are 
not to be forgiven by Christian men ; neither may 
Infidelity be countenanced. Other causes of neglect may 
have been at work. The Commander-in-chief was a 
Federalist, and feared the republic might become too 
republican. Paine, though he misunderstood Robes- 
pierre, was a thorough -going democrat ; thought L,a 
Fayette required spurring. Very dangerous these unac- 
commodating men, never halting at word of command, 
to respectable slave proprietors, who fain would harness 
revolutions to their family chariots, and hold the reins 
themselves. Here too was another sore. The great 
Washington was a slave-holder. Paine hated the 
"infernal traffic in negroes ;" had only kept silence on 
that subject during the revolution, for fear of ruining 
all. But he had since written — "We must push that 
matter" (of abolition) "further on your side of the water. 
I wish that a few well-instructed negroes could be sent 
among their brethren in bondage ; for until they are 
enabled to take their own part nothing will be done."f 
Was this to be forgotten? Yet Jefferson was a slave- 
holder ; and he at least could write friendly, with 
"assurance of high esteem and affectionate attachment. "J 
An infidel, too, was Jefferson ; but too wary to publish 

* Letter to George Washington. 

fLetter to a friend in Philadelphia, Paris, March 16th, 1789. 

tjefferson to Paine, July, 1802. 



58 LIF3 of Thomas pain^. 

it till he was out of reach. After all, something must 
be allowed for the bent of a man's character. Washing- 
ton's great point seems to have been respectability : and 
respectability, "thin film" as it is, keeps the wearer 
well with the slow-eyed world, "whose God is the 
Almighty Dollar ;" and how shall great things be done 
without it? Truth is not to be spoken at all times. 
Your politic reformer will allow as much : but Paine was 
not of that stamp. He was one of those who "achieve 
greatness ;' ' Washington one upon whom greatness is 
"thrust." The difference is worth notice when medals 
are struck. * 

Paine arrived at Baltimore, in Maryland, on the 30th 
of October, 1802. "From New Hampshire to Georgia 

*"It is evident from all the writings of Mr. Paine, says Richard Carlile, " that he 
lived in the closest intimacy with Washington up to the time of his quitting Amer- 
ica in 1787, and it further appears that they corresponded up to the time of Mr. 
Paine's imprisonment in the Luxembourg. But here a fatal breach took place. 
Washington, having been the nominal commander-in-chief during the struggle for 
independence, obtained much celebrity, not for his exertions during that struggle, but 
in laying down all command and authority immediately on its close, and in retiring to 
private life, instead of assuming anything like authority or dictation in the govern- 
ment of the United States, which his former situation would have enabled him to do 
if he had chosen. This was a circumstance only to be paralleled during the purest 
periods of the Roman and Grecian republics, and this circumstance obtained for 
Washington a fame to which his generalship could not aspire. Mr. Paine says that 
" the disposition of Washington was apathy itself, and that nothing could kindle a fire 
in his bosom — neither friendship, fame, nor country." This might in some measure 
account for the relinquishment of all authority at a time when he might have held it, 
and, on the other hand, should have moderated the tone of Mr. Paine in complaining 
of Washington's neglect of himself whilst confined in France. The apathy which 
was made a sufficient excuse for the one case should have also formed a sufficient ex- 
cuse for the other. This was certainly a defect in Mr. Paine's career as a political 
character. He might have attacked the conduct of John Adams, who was a bitter 
foe to Paine, republicanism, and purity of principle, and who found the apathy and 
indifference of Washington a sufficient cloak and opportunity to enable him to carry 
on every species of court and monarchical intrigue in the character of vice-president. 
He openly avowed his attachment to the monarchical system of government; he ma e 
an open proposition to make the presidency of the United States hereditary in tne 
family of Washington, although the latter had no children of his own ; and even ran 
into an intrigue and correspondence with the court and ministry of England on the 
subject of his diabolical purposes. All this intelligence burst upon Mr. Paine imme- 
diately on his liberation from a dreadful imprisonment, and at a moment when the 
neglect of the American government had nearly cost him his life. It was this which 
drew forth his virulent letter against Washington. The slightest interference of 
Washington would have saved him from several months' unjust and unnecessary im- 
prisonment, for there was not the least charge against him further than that ofhaving 
been born in England, although he had actually been outlawed in that country for 
supporting the cause of France and of mankind V'—Eckler. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 59 

(an extent of 1500 miles) every newspaper was filled with 
applause or abuse."* The Federalists (the American 
Tories) of course resented his onslaught upon the General. 
Many of the democratic party were also estranged from 
him on account of his "infidelity." Others, among 
whom was Jefferson, then president, received him with 
joy and gratulation. The leaders of the many religious 
sects were not the least anxious to see the author of the 
Age of Reason. On his way from Baltimore to New 
York, he was interrupted by a Mr. Hargrove, minister of 
the New Jerusalemites. "You are Mr. Paine," said 
Mr. Hargrove. "Yes." — "My name Sir, is Hargrove ; 
I am minister of the New Jerusalem church here. We, 
Sir, explain the scriptures in their true meaning. We 
have found the key which has been lost above four thou- 
sand years." "It must have been very rusty," said 
Paine. At New York he remained some time, residing 
at Lovett's Hotel. Here his former friends gathered 
around him ; a public dinner was held in his honor ; 
other demonstrations of joy at his return were evinced : 
yet he could not but perceive how many of his political 
admirers were offended at the avowal of his religious 
principles ; and that many, secretly approving of his 
opinions, openly denounced them, and shunned his 
society. These were things to disturb a man's serenity : 
and Paine was now old, and suffering, moreover, from 
an abscess in his side, the consequence of his long 
imprisonment. He appears to have become peevish and 
irritable ; and this alienated other friends, who thought 
that the blighting of life's first hopes, persecution, 
imprisonment, old age, pain, neglect, and occasional 
insult, were, or ought to be, excellent promoters of 
tranquillity : yet there is not the slightest evidence that 
the benevolent disposition which had characterized him 
through life was at all diminished. 

* Letter to Clio Rickman ; Rickman, p. 175-6. 



60 UFK OF THOMAS PAINE. 

While ill Paris, Paine had lodged some time with M. 
Bonneville, the proprietor of a republican paper, which 
was suppressed, to the impoverishing of Bonneville, on 
the usurpation of Bonaparte. When, therefore, Paine 
arrived in America, finding his estate prosperous, he 
returned certain kindnesses which he had received from 
Bonneville, by inviting him and his family to become 
his visitors.* That gentleman accepted his invitation, 
and sent his wife and three sons to New York ; but stayed 
himself in Paris to settle his affairs ; which improving, 
he remained in France, and the eldest of the boys returned 
to him. Madame Bonneville was placed by Paine in a 
small house and farm of his, at Borden town, where he 
wished her to keep a school ; however, she preferred 
residing at New York, drawing funds from him, and 
occasionally teaching French. "On one occasion she 
ran in debt on Mr. Paine' s credit ; but as this was with- 
out his authority, he declined paying, and suffered 
himself to be sued. He gained the cause, but generously 
paid the debt immediately. She also attempted a fraud 
on him to a large amount : he then, for a time, refused 
her assistance, but took care of her children. His god-son 
Thomas, he afterwards got into the West Point Academy, 
and we believe the other brother also ; at least both were 
educated by him."t 

Paine' s popularity ceased with the New York dinner. 
Respectable people dared not own the Deist; aspiring 
politicians feared his acquaintance — it might injure them 
at the ballot-box. Many of his old friends contented 
themselves with a formal visit. There were honorable 
exceptions however, "Jefferson corresponded with him 
to the day of his death. De Witt Clinton sought him 
out and rapturously hailed him as a friend. A close 
intimacy existed also between him and Klihu Palmer, 

*Sherwin, p. 208; Rickman, p. 179. 

fFrom Vale's Life of Paine, formeriy published in the Beacon, a New York 
periodical. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 6l 

the eloquent Deistical lecturer. Mr, Palmer was blind, 
and while he lived, and Paine was in New York, he 
visited him almost daily, and at his death, rendered 
his widow essential service."* Paine' s worldly circum- 
stances were now very good. He writes to Clio Rickman. 
"My property in this country has been taken great care 
of by my friends, and is now worth ^6000 sterling ; 
which put in the funds, will bring me ^400 sterling a 
year." He thus states the conduct he intended to adopt 
in America. "I have no occasion to ask, and do not 
intend to accept, any place or office in the Government. 
There is none it could give me, that would be any ways 
equal to the profits I could make as an author, for I have 
an established fame in the literary world,- could I reconcile 
it to my principles to make money by my politics or 
religion ; I must be in everything what I have ever been, 
a disinterested volunteer. My proper sphere of action is 
on the common floor of citizenship, and to honest men I 
give inv hand and my heart freely. 

"I have some manuscript works to publish, of which 
I shall give proper notice, and some mechanical affairs to 
bring forward, that will employ all my leisure time. I 
shall continue these letters as I see occasion, and as to 
the low prints that choose to abuse me, they are welcome. 
I shall not descend to answer them. I have been too 
much used to such common stuff to take any notice of it. 
The Government of England honored me with a thousand 
martyrdoms, by burning me in effigy in every town in 
that country, and their hirelings in America may do the 
same. ' ' f Th e remnant of his public life is soon told. In 
the close of 1802, and in the beginning of 1803, he wrote 
his Letters to the Citizens of the United States of America, 
after an absence of fifteen years: seven letters, chiefly in 
opposition to the Federal, or English-assimilation party, 
written at Washington, at New York, and at Bordentown, 

* Vale. f No. i of the Letters to the Citizens of the United States. 



62 LIKE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

and published in the Aurora newspaper. In June, 1803, 
he forwarded to Congress an account of the Construction 
of Iron Bridges; and presented to them his models, 
which, we believe, have been much followed. He also 
busied himself in electioneering proceedings, exposing 
the mal-practices of the Federalists ; and he appears to 
have made some attempts to establish the "Deistical 
Church." In September, 1804, he wrote an article 
against the French inhabitants of Louisiana, (then just 
incorporated with the United States) who, in a memorial 
to Congress, petitioned among other rights, for the 
"right" of importing negroes; and in August, 1805, we 
find him addressing a paper to the Citizens of Pennsyl- 
vania, on the proposal for calling a Convention. In June, 
1806, he published an inquiry into the Cause of the Yellow 
Fever, and the Means of preventing it; and in the 
latter part of that year, and in the course of the next, he 
wrote various papers, on political Emissaries, the Liberty 
of the Press, Affairs of Europe, Gunboats, Fortifications, 
&c, &c. In 1807, he published the Third Part of the 
Age of Reason — an examination of the Prophecies, an 
Essay on Dreams, and an Appendix, with l ' My private 
Thoughts on a future State. ' ' Some of his papers are 
dated as late as 1808. The Essay on the Origin of Free- 
masonry, and his Reply to the Bishop of Llandaff, were 
not published till after his death. These last writings 
are written with unabated vigor, and well sustain his 
literary reputation. 

He appears to have been continually assailed by the 
hirelings of the press ; but he was well able to defend 
himself from the rancor of these reptiles. The assaults 
of age were not so easily repelled. He suffered from 
epilepsy, and from the abscess in his side ; and, though 
his mind still burned brightly, his body was fast wearing 
out. In June, 1803, he left New York for New Rochelle, 
and boarded with the occupant of his farm, for some 






CHAELOTTE OOEDAY, 



CHARLOTTE CORDAY. 



CHARLOTTE CORDAY d' Armont was born in a cottage called le Rodceray, in the 
village of Lignenes, of a noble family in humble circumstances. After the death of 
her mother, she entered a monastery at Caen. For some years she dreamed of ending her 
life in this living tomb. At the period when monasteries were suppressed, she was nine 
teen years of age, and went to reside with her aunt, Madame de Bretteville, whom she 
assisted in her domestic duties. 

"The grand-daughter of the great French tragedy writer, Pierre Corneille," savs 
Lamartine, "inherited the poetry, heroism, and love of her race. At twenty-four years 
of age she was celebrated for her remarkable beauty Tall and well proportioned, her nat- 
ural grace and dignity, like the rhythm of poetry, displayed itself in all her movements. 
" From reading the account of the struggles of the Girondists and Jacobins in the Con- 
vention, she had conceived the idea of immolating herself for the sake of liberty and 
humanity. She only awaited the occasion — it came, and she thought to seize it. She 
felt all the blows directed against her country concentrate themselves in anguish and 
despair in her stricken heart. She saw the loss of France, saw the victims, and believed 
she discovered the tyrant. She swore an oath to avenge the one, punish the other, and 
save all. She pondered many days over the vague determination of her heart without 
clearly resolving on what deed her country required at her hands, which link of crime it 
was most urgent to cut through. She considered things, men, circumstances in order 
that her courage might not be fruitless, nor her blood spilled in vain. 

"The gravity of her countenance alone, and some tears, ill concealed from the eyes of 
her relatives, revealed the voluntary agony of her self-immolation. Interrogated by her 
aunt : ' I weep ' said she, ' over the misfortunes of my country, over those of my rela- 
tives, and over yours. Whilst Marat lives, no one can be sure of a day's existence.' 

"After her departure her aunt found an old bible open at the book of Judith, in which 
she had read this verse, underlined with a pencil : 

"Judith went forth from the city, adorned with a marvellous beauty, which the Lord 
had bestowed on her to deliver Israel." 

"After some difficulty in gaining admission to Marat's residence, Charlotte found him 
in his bath covered with a cloth filthy with dirt and spotted with ink, with only his head, 
shoulders, the upper part of his chest, and his right arm out of the water. There was 
nothing in the features of this man to affect a woman's eye with tenderness, or give 
pause to a meditated blow. His matted hair, wrapped in a dirty handkerchief, with 
receding forehead, protruding eyes, prominent cheek-bones, vast and sneering mouth, 
hairy chest, shrivelled limbs, and livid skin — such was Marat. 

" Charlotte took care not to look him in the face, for fear her countenance might be- 
tray the horror she felt at his sight. With downcast eyes, and her arms hanging motion- 
less by her side, she stood close to the bath, awaiting until Marat should inquire as to 
the state of Normandy. She replied with brevity, giving to her replies the sense and 
tone likely to pacify the demagogue's wishes. He then asked the name of the deputies 
who had taken refuge at Caen. She gave them to him, and he wrote them down, and 
when he had concluded, said, in the voice of a man sure of his vengeance, ' Well, before 
they are a week older, they shall have the guillotine !' 

"At these words, as if Charlotte's mind had awaited a last offence before it could re- 
solve on striking the blow, she drew the knife from her bosom, and, with superhuman 
force, plunged it to the hilt in Marat's heart. She then drew the bloody weapon from 
the body of the victim, and let it fall at her feet. 

" Such was the death of Marat ; such were the life and death of Charlotte Corday. In 
the face of murder history dares not praise, and in the face of heroism, dares not con- 
demn her. Had we to find for this sublime liberatrix of her country, and generous mur- 
deress of a tyrant, a name which should at once convey the enthusiasm of our feelings 
towards her and the severity of our judgment on her action, we would coin a phrase combin- 
ing the extreme of admiration and horror, and term her the Angel of Assassination."— E. 



UFK OF THOMAS PAINE. 63 

weeks, when he again returned to the city. His tenant 
left in the spring of the following year, and Paine went 
again to the farm, taking with him Madame Bonneville's 
two children ; but as he did not intend to attend to farm- 
ing himself, he hired a person for that purpose, and, for 
the sake of greater comfort, took lodgings in the neigh- 
borhood. * On the Christmas Eve of 1804, he narrowly 
escaped a bullet fired through his window by a man who 
was considerably in his debt. He seems to have resided 
at New Rochelle, probably occasionally visiting Borden- 
town and New York, till the summer of 1806, when he 
went to reside with Mr. Jarvis, a portrait painter, in 
Church Street, New York. He was now very infirm, 
and this seems to have been the signal for religious 
bigots of all denominations to begin to worry him, in 
hopes of a recantation. The following is a specimen of 
their kindly endeavors. He usually took a short nap 
after dinner, and would not be disturbed by any one. 
u One afternoon, a very old lady, in a large scarlet cloak, 
knocked at the door, and inquired for Thomas Paine. 
Mr. Jarvis told her he was asleep. ' I am very sorry for 
that,' said she, ' for I want to see him very particularly.' 
Thinking it a pity to make an old woman call twice, 
Mr. Jarvis waked him. He arose upon one elbow, and 
with an expression of eye that staggered the old woman, 
asked, c What do you want ?' — 'Is your name Paine ?' — 
' Yes ' — ' Well, then, I come from Almighty God to tell 
you, that if you do not repent of your sins, and believe 
in our blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ, you will be damned.' 
— ' Poh, poh, it is not true. You were not sent with any 
such impertinent message. Jarvis, make her go away. 
Pshaw ! he would not send such a foolish, ugly old woman 
about with his messages. Go away ; go back ; shut the 
door !' The old lady retired in mute astonishment," f 
Paine resided with Mr. Jarvis till the end of 1808. 

*Sherwin, p. 212. fRickman, p. 182 ; Sherwin, p. 214. 



64 UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

His continued illness rendering boarding troublesome, 
he then removed to a small house, in Columbia Street, 
Greenwich, about two miles from New York, which 
Madame Bonneville took for him. * This lady also en- 
gaged a Mrs. Hadden(or Hedden,)a " religious" woman 
as his nurse, as he was too feeble to do anything for 
himself. His bodily sufferings were great ; and he 
often expressed his wish to die, as there was no other 
chance of getting rid of them. He also seems to have 
been solicitous about his burial, and desirous of a place 
in the Quaker burial-ground. Mr. Willet Hicks, a mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends, who had shown him much 
kindly attention during his illness, called upon him, at 
his request, to confer upon the subject. Paine told him 
that he desired to be buried among the Quakers, as he 
preferred their principles to those of any other Christian 
sect, and approved their mode of burial ; his father, also, 
was a Quaker. Mr. Hicks conveyed his request to the 
committee who superintend the Quaker cemetery and 
funerals; but they refused to comply with his solicitation. 
"About the 4th of May, symptoms of approaching 
dissolution became very evident to himself, and he soon 
fell off his milk-punch, and became too infirm to take 
any thing ; complaining of much bodily pain."t " For 
the last three weeks before his death, he suffered the 
most excruciating pain. His body was in many places 
covered with ulcers, and his feet with discolored blisters, 
which baffled every effort to arrest their progress. He 
was at the same time laboring under a confirmed dropsy, 
attended with frequent cough and vomiting, and his 
decease was every day expected by those about him. In 
this deplorable situation, Mrs. Hedden frequently read 
the Bible to him — "J in hopes of easing his pain by a 
pleasant belief in damnation. In her most Christian en- 

* Vale. Sherwin says he boarded at a Mr. Ryder's, in Burrow Street, Greenwich, 
t Rickman, p. 186. % Sherwin, p. 222. - . v • 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 65 

deavors she was aided by the charity of the Rev. Mr. 
Milledollar, a Presbyterian minister, and the Rev. Mr. 
Cunningham, who visited him about a fortnight before 
his death. ' ' The latter gentleman said — ' Mr. Paine, we 
visit you as friends and neighbors. You have now a full 
view of death ; you cannot live long, and whosoever 
does not believe in Jesus Christ will assuredly be 
damned.' — ' L,et me have none of your popish stuff,' re- 
plied Paine. ' Get away with you. Good morning, 
good morning.' Mr. Milledollar attempted to address 
him, but he was interrupted with the same language. 
When they were gone, he said to Mrs. Hedden, 'Don't 
let 'em come here again; they trouble me.' Their 
pious anxiety soon prompted them to renew their visit, 
but Mrs. Hedden told them that they could not be ad- 
mitted, and that she thought the attempt useless, for if 
God did not change his" mind, she was sure no human 
power could."* Even his medical attendant, Dr. 
Manley, must needs so far forget his office as to join in 
these cold-blooded attempts to torture the mighty mind 
which it was vainly hoped physical decay had reduced to 
the miserable level of his tormentors. " The day before 
he died, Dr. Manley says he purposely paid him a very 
late visit with a view to ascertain the true state of his 
mind. After asking him several questions about his be- 
lief, without receiving any answer, he endeavored to 
qualify the subject by saying — 'Do you wish to believe 
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God ?' He answered, 
4 1 have no wish to believe on the subject.' "t These, 
Dr. Manley believes, were the last words he uttered. 
On the 8th of June, 1809, about nine in the morning, 
" placidly and almost without a struggle, "I died Thomas 
Paine, aged seventy-two years and five months ; pre- 
serving to the last his intellectual power — his hostility to 
the Christian faith. 

♦Sherwin, p, 220. t Ibid, p. 223 ; see also Vale, and Cheetham. \ Cheetham, &c. 



66 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

On the day after his decease, his body was removed, 
attended by seven persons, to New Rochelle, where he 
was interred upon his own farm. A stone was placed at 
the head of his grave, * according to the direction in his 
will, bearing the following inscription : — 

THOMAS PAINE, 

Author of 

Common Sense. 

Died June 8th, 1809, aged J2 years and 5 months. 

Few writers have contributed so much as Paine has, 
toward the enfranchisement of man from the hereditary 
thraldom. Let the immediate effects of Common 
Sense, now matter of history ; let the wide and ever- 
increasing circulation of the Rights of Man, the con- 
tinual reference thereto, attest the worth of his political 
works. Of his theological, let priestcraft speak, and 
own that scarcely any deadlier, and, assuredly, no di- 
recter, blow than the Age OF Reason, has been aimed 
against the stability of the Cross. And of the Man what 
shall we say ? He seems to have been especially what 
Cobbett styles him, "a true Englishman ;" a fine speci- 
men of the national character : clear-headed, honest in 
the fullest meaning of the word, active, energetic, and 
persevering, sturdy, and inflexible, but generous with 
"naturally warm feelings, which could ill-brook any 
slight, "f A truer Englishman than Cobbett, for Paine 
was consistent ; he never swerved : there was no fickle- 
ness in him, nor the appearance of turning. The real 
John-Bull spirit of antagonism was in him : but of that 
his writings are themselves the best defence. What did 
he assail that did not deserve assault? If his innate 
hatred of wrong was at times too severely expressed, if 

* The grave has since been allowed to go to decay- Cobbett, resenting the indiffer- 
ence of the Americans, exhumed the bones of Paine, and look them to England. 
They are still, we believe, in England, and above ground. A handsome monument is 
now erected near the place where his bones should be, at New Rochelle. 

f Rickman. 




M, Dq La FAYETTE, 



THOMAS PAINE TO M. DE LA FAYETTE. 



AFTER an acquaintance of nearly fifteen years, in difficult 
situations in America, and various consultations in Eu- 
rope, I feel a pleasure in presenting you this small 
treatise* in gratitude for your services to my beloved America, 
and as a testimony of my esteem for the virtues, public and 
private, which I know you to possess. 

The only point upon which I could ever discover that we 
differed, was not as to principles of government, but as to time. 
For my own part, I think it equally as injurious to good prin- 
ciples to permit them to linger, as to push them on too fast. 
That which you suppose accomplishable in fourteen or fifteen 
years, I may believe practicable in a much shorter period. 
Mankind, as it appears to me, are always ripe enough to un- 
derstand their true interest, provided it be presented clearly 
to their understanding, and that in a manner not to create sus- 
picion by any thing like self- design, nor to offend by assuming 
too much. Where we would wish to reform we must not 
reproach. 

When the American revolution was established. I felt a dis- 
position to sit serenely down and enjoy the calm. It did not 
appear to me that any object could afterwards arise great 
enough to make me quit tranquillity, and feel as I had felt 
before. But when principle, and not place, is the energetic 
cause of action, a man, I find, is every where the same. 

I am now once more in the public world ; and as I have not 
a right to contemplate on so many years of remaining life as 
you have, I am resolved to labor as fast as I can ; and as I am 
anxious for your aid and your company, I wish you to hasten 
your principles and overtake me. 

Your sincere, affectionate friend, 

THOMAS PAINE. 

* Rights of Man. 



tit E OF THOMAS PAINlt. 6j 

his sarcasms were bitter, and his denunciations fierce, 
let his earnestness excuse him. No politic, mere self- 
loving prize-fighter was he ; but combatted for principles : 
and if, in the conflict for more than life, he dealt some 
awkward blows, there was no ungenerous purpose ; the 
fault was in the position of his adversary. His irritabil- 
ity of temperament, and some roughness of demeanor 
when offended (and little opportunity for annoyance did 
his dastardly enemies forego,) the obstinacy into which 
his inflexibility sometimes rankly grew, were more than 
redeemed by his uniform benevolence. He was gentle- 
manly at the core, nor ever, save when grossly insulted, 
threw off the rind of gentlemanly manners. He only took 
off his coat when compelled to fight it out. But he could 
forgive and assist his declared foe, though he refused to 
pardon* the treachery of a u friend." In his worst rude- 
ness was a well-meaning sincerity, rendering it far more 
tolerable than that formal politeness, but too commonly 
a masking- word for hypocrisy, not a whit more careful of 
offence-giving than the rough frankness so fashionably 
condemned. He was religious ! a steady Theist, not 
without faith in " things hoped for," but not evidenced: 
witness his Age of Reason, his " Thoughts on a future 
state," and his directions in his last will, that his 
adopted children be instructed " in their duty to God." 
" He was always charitable to the poor beyond his 
means."* Few public characters would pass unscathed 
through the ordeal to which suspicious tyranny and the 
frenzy of fanaticism have subjected him. Malice has 
here done its worst ; working like Sisyphus, but not 
eternally. History holds not many names of such integ- 
rity. No insufficient occasion might he have pleaded 
for the self-esteem, the "tincture of vanity" (by no 
means the worst of human failings) which is manifest in 
his writings. How should he be blind to his own great- 

* Letter from Joel Barlow to Cheetham. 



68 UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

ness, whose living monument filled a thousand square 
miles ? What Mirabeau said of Robespierre, might be 
said of him : "This man believes all he says." And 
let it not be forgotten that Paine was one of the People, 
of the hand-laboring class, of the men without political 
existence, with whom, in the day of his high advance- 
ment, he never ceased to sympathize ; that, save a little 
grammar-school ploughing, he was self-taught. Let the 
Serf bear this in mind ; and let the Nobly-born pay 
homage to this ' ' Son of the lower orders ' ' — the outlawed 
Stay-maker. 

"Paine was about five feet ten inches high, and 
rather athletic ; he was broad-shouldered, and latterly 
stooped a little. His eye was full, brilliant, and singu- 
larly piercing ; it had in it the 'muse of fire.' In his 
dress and person he was generally very cleanly, though 
careless, and wore his hair queued, with side curls, and 
powdered, like a gentleman of the old French school. 

" His manners were easy and gracious, his knowledge 
was universal ; among friends his conversation had every 
fascination that anecdote, novelty and truth could give 
it. In mixed company and among strangers he said 
little, and was no public speaker."* The power of his 
memory was so great that he could repeat at will any 
passage from any of his writings. The only book that 
he had studied was the Bible, with every part of which 
he was familiar. 

And now, most discriminating reader, what wilt thou 
say of Paine? " Wilt thou address him — c Thou art a 
troubler of privileged orders ; we will tar and feather 
thee : the nobles abhor thee, and kings think thee mad !' 
or wilt thou rather put on thy spectacles, study his phys- 
iognomy, purchase his portrait, hang it over thy chimney- 
piece, and, pointing to it, say — 'This is no common 
man. This is the poor man's friend.' " 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 69 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE SLANDERERS. 

WE dedicate this chapter to the envious and the 
malignant ; to the depreciator and the libeller ; 
to the snarling, ill-natured critic and the cen- 
sorius "Christian." We need not answer the calum- 
nious " lives" of "Oldys" and Cheetham. They carry 
abundant proof of their own falsity. The poisonous lie 
may be its own antidote. But we desire to disabuse the 
public mind of certain slanders still palmed upon its 
uninquiring credulity. Paine was the enemy of abuses : 
therefore has he been reviled. Of what is he accused? 
Of coarseness — intemperance — licentiousness — and re- 
cantation of his published religious opinions. 

The charge of coarseness includes also ' ' want of cleanli- 
ness and absence of gentlemanly manners." You may 
know a man by his companions. Paine was intimate 
with Franklin ;* was the welcome guest of Washington 
and his officers during the American war.f In London 
he visited, and was visited by Priestley, Lord Edward 
Fitzgerald, Burke, Home Tooke, and other leading men 
of the liberal party :t dined at the Duke of Portland's \\ 
in France, with Dr. Moore and the Earl of Lauderdale, 
with Bonaparte and his generals ;|| enjoyed the friend- 
ship of La Fayette ; associated occasionally with Volney, 
Condorcet, &c. , &c. ;*|[ and after his imprisonment resided 
a year and a half with Monroe, the American ambassador, 

* Dr. Rush's Letters to Cheetham, &c, &c. flbid. 

JRickman. g Ibid. || Ibid. flbid. 



?0 U#£ OF THOMAS PAIN#. 

afterwards president of the United States. Redhead 
Yorke attests his " affability ," * and Col. Burr, who 
knew him after his return to America, thus replied to a 
query concerning the alleged vulgarity, intemperance, 
and want of cleanliness — "Sir, he dined at my table :"f 
and added — ' ' I alw T ays considered Mr. Paine a gentleman, 
a pleasant companion, and a good-natured and intelligent 
man ; decidedly temperate, with a proper regard to his 
personal appearance, whenever I saw him." Similar 
testimonials are given by all who were personally 
acquainted with him. 

For his intemperance — drunkenness, if it please the 
world's charity — much might be said in extenuation, even 
were it a proved thing. Small marvel were it, nor merit- 
ing the extreme of censure, if a man, exiled and almost 
universally shunned, homeless, wifeless, and childless, 
and latterly nearly friendless, should attempt even such 
escape from the iron discipline of toil and excessive pain, 
the sorrow of disappointment, and grey-haired, unaccus- 
tomed solitude. What if he did indulge more freely than 
is consistent with the temperate morality of those who 
know not how to pity him? May not the sorrow-goaded 
sleep even for a moment? What if the habit had grown 
upon him (as all habits will grow,) until he became a 
confirmed drunkard? Even this might only prove that 
he was not so hard-headed as some of the uncondemned, 
of the condemners. In his days it was deemed gentle- 
manly, hospitable, sociable, to drink deeply. Is Charles 
James Fox branded as a drunkard ? Is Sheridan ? Do 
the church-and-state worshippers who would stigmatize 
Paine, write the name of beast on the front of George the 
Fourth? What "vision of judgment" had they for 
him? Verily, the soul of that monstrous tun, the 
"halfpennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of 

* Letter from Paris in 1802. 

t The inquirer was Mr. Vale of New York, editor of the Beacon. See No. 30 of the 
Beacon, May, 1837. 




i/lt Coru , enfant 3e fo Jatiie. (.(./out 3 c, guile, r.jt <rt- 1.i, -vC Ce-ntlcnouj d& Uu tu iwnnU- ^e&ndalJ 
San^Cant ejt U- W . ,/ den- datd Jan. - ahnttjt U. vc ; Civ ttn, dex vouJ damJ UJ Gumpaones LfliLavt, 




KOUGET DE LISLE. 



THE MARSEILLAISE HYMN. 

Written by Rouget de Lisle, who also compdsed the air.* 



„ , *-, ± . Tout est soldat pour vous combattre: 

Allons, enfants de la patrie, S'ils tombent nos jeunes heros, 

Le jour de gloire est arrive ! La France en produit les nouveaux 

Contre nous, de la tyrannie Contre vous tout prets a se battre. 
L'etendart sanglant est leve. Aux armes, &c. 
Entendez vous dans ces campagnes v. 

Mugir ces feroees soldats! w„„„„„s „ 

lis viennent jusque dans vos bras Francais, en gnerners magnanimes, 

Ecroro-er vos fils et vos eomi>a"nes i Portez on retenez vos coups; 

Marchons ! qu'un sang impur abreuve nos 
sillons ! 



A regret s'armant contre vous. 
Mais ces despotes sangninaires, 
Mais les complices de Bouille, 
Tous ces tigres sans pitie 
Dechirent le sein de leur mere. 
Aux armes, &c. 



Que veutcette horde d'esclavey, 

De traitres, de rois conjures ? 

Pour qui ces ignobles entraves 

Ces fers des longtemps prepares? VI ' 

Francais, pour vous ah! quel outrage, Amour sacre de la patrie, 

Quels transports il doit exciter! Conduis, souriens nos bras vengeursl 

C'est vous qu'on ose mediter Liberte, liberte cherie, 

De rendre a 1 'antique esclavage; Combats avec tes defenseurs! 

Aux armes, &c. Sous nos drapeaux que la Victoire 

in. Accoure a tes males accents; 

Quoi ! ces cohortes etrangeres Que tes ennemis expirants 

Feraient la loi dans nos foyers? Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire! 
Quoi! ces phalanges mercenaires Aux armes, &c. 
Terrasseraient nos peres gnerriers ? 

Grand Dieu! par des mains enchainees, VERSE fUNG BY children. 

Nos fronts sous le joug se ploieraient; Novs entrerons dans la carriere, 

De vils despotes deviendraient Quand nos aines n'y seront plus: 

Les maitres de nos destinees! Nous y trouverons leur poussiere, 

Aux armes, &c. Et la trace de leurs vertus! 

iv. Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre 

Tremblez, tyrans! et vous, perfides, Que de partager leur cercueil, 

L'opprobte de tons les partis! Nous aurons le sublime orgueil 

Tremblez, vos projets parricides De les venger ou de les suivre! 
Vent enfin reoevoir leur prix! Aux armes, &c. 

"The notes of this air,'" says Lamartine, "rustled like a flag dipped in gore, still reek- 
ing in the battle plain. It made one tremble — but it was the shudder of intrepidity 
which passed over the heart, and gave an impulse — redoubled strength — veiled death. 
It was the ' fire water ' of the Revolution, which instilled into the senses and the soul of 
the people the intoxication of battle. There are times when all people find thus gushing 
into their national mind accents which no man hath written down, and which all the 
world feels. All the senses desire to present their tribute to patriotism, and eventually to 
encourage each other. The foot advances — gesture animates —the voice intoxicates the 
ear — the ear shakes the heart. The whole being is inspired like an instrument of enthu- 
siasm. Art becomes divine; dancing, heroic; music, martial; poetry, popular. The 
hymn which was at that moment in all mouths will never perish. It is not profaned on 
common occasions. Like those sacred banners suspended from the roofs of holy edifices, 
and which are only allowed to leave them on certain days, we keep the national song as 
an extreme arm for the great necessities of the country. Ours was illustrated by circum- 
stances, whence issued a peculiar character, which made it at the same time more solemn 
and more sinister: glory and crime, victory and death, seemed intertwined in its chorus. 
It was the song of patriotism, but it was also the imprecation of rage. It conducted our 
soldiers to the frontier, but it also accompanied our victims to the scaffold. The same 
blade defends the heart of the country in the hand of the soldier, and sacrifices victims in 
the hand of the executioner. " — E. 

" * Rouget de Lisle was an officer of engineers in 1790, and in spite of bis republican opinions , incarcerated 
during the reign of terror and only saved by the 9th Thermidor, Or he would assuredly have been accompanied 
to the guillotine by the music of his own song.' ' 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 7 1 

sack" anointed with sacramental oil, sleeps sweetly in 
Abraham's bosom, assoiled of all its foulness. He was 
indeed a drunkard : lying History cannot deny that. 
But no drunkard was Paine. Col. Burr's statement is 
before us: — He was ''decidedly temperate." His friend 
Rickman, too, shall speak for him, "nothing extenuate." 
"During his residence with me in London, in and about 
the year 1792, and in the course of his life previous to 
that time, he was not in the habit of drinking to excess ; 
he was clean in his person, and in his manners polite 
and engaging ; and ten years after this, when I was with 
him in France, he did not drink spirits, and wine he took 
moderately ; he even objected to any spirits being laid in 
as a part of his sea stock, observing to me, that though 
sometimes, borne down by public and private afliiction, 
he had been driven to excesses in Paris, the cause and 
effect would cease together, and that in America he 
should live as he liked, and as he ought to live."* So 
did he live : witness the following, published by Mr. 
Vale, in New York, in July, 1837 : — u Mr. John Fellows, 
who knew Mr. Paine during the whole period of his 
residence in this country, thus speaks of his habits. He 
was cleanly in his person, but careless or easy in his 
dress. He lived plainly, but took a glass of sweetened 
rum and water after dinner, and another after supper : he 
limited not only himself, but his friends. Mr. Fellows 
never saw him drunk during the six months he boarded 
in the same house with him ; but he was once a little 
excited with liquor, and then he had been to dinner with 
an Irish friend, remarkable for his hospitality, which at 
that period sanctioned excess. We could repeat here a 
long list of respectable names, who knew Mr. Paine 
socially, or were in the frequent habit of seeing him, 
who confirm this testimony. But it will be said, Did 
not Cheetham refer to living witnesses? Yes, he did — 

•Rickman, p. 11-12. 



72 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

he referred to Mr. Jarvis ; and tells anecdotes in relation 
to Mr. Paine' s filthy habits, and in support of his 
excesses ; and Mr: Jarvis tells us that Cheetham lied, 
and we are authorized to say so. Carver* has marked his 
copy of the life by Cheetham with similar expressions 
throughout the margin : and this copy we have had the 
use of, by favor of Mr. Parkins, ex-sherifF of London, 
whose property it has become. — But there are persons 
who say they knew Mr. Paine, and say that he was 
drunken. Mr. Daniel Ward, of Gold Street, near Frank- 
fort, who lived at Rochelle, has mentioned the son of a 
man who lived on Paine' s farm, one Mr. Purdy, who has 
since kept a school, and who is a religious man ; this 
individual told Mr. Ward, that Paine did get drunk every 
evening : in the same conversation, however, he told Mr. 
Ward, that he was in the habit of generally reading 
manuscript to Mr. Paine of an evening, thus disproving 
his drunken situation: but Mr. Ward adds, (which is of 
more consequence) that he and others knew Purdy to be 
subject to mis-statements, notwithstanding his religious 
character, "f u Mr. Holden, with whom I am well ac- 
quainted," says Mr. Clark, writing to Sherwin, " informs 
me that he lived close to Mr. Paine for several months, 
and never saw him intoxicated ; in fact, to use his own 
expression, 'It was a lie to say he is a drunkard. ' Dr. 
Manley says, 'While I attended him, he never was 
inebriated. ' " % Here are references to reliable witnesses ; 
yet more, if necessary, could give their evidence in his 
favor. But enough, perhaps more than enough, has been 
already adduced to refute this "weak invention of the en- 
emy, ' ' long industriously propagated in the pages of ' ' Re- 
ligious Tracts," for the promotion of Christian truth and 
charity. Pass we to the next count in the indictment. 

The charge of licentiousness alludes solely to an 
accusation of illict intercourse with Madame Bonneville ; 

*See his name in the accusation of Paine's licentiousness. 

f Beacon, No. 35. \ Sherwin, p. 326. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 73 

and is unsupported by any evidence : resting on the same 
authority that originated the foregoing calumnies, the 
authority of Mr. Carver, of New York, with whom Paine 
at one time boarded, and who, in consequence of a 
miserable money-quarrel, wrote a hasty and scurrilous 
letter to Paine, wherein he indulged in several gross 
aspersions, which he afterwards was ashamed of and 
explained away. This letter was invidiously laid hold 
of by Cheetham, and amplified in his ''Life." Madame 
Bonneville prosecuted Cheetham for the libel, and 
obtained damages. The following gives some insight 
into Cheetham' s character: — 

" October 27, 1807. 
11 Mr. Cheetham : 

' ' Unless you make a public apology for the abuse and 
falsehood in your paper of Tuesday, October 27, respect- 
ing me, I will prosecute you for lying. 

4 'It is by your talent for abuse and falsehood, that 
you have brought so many prosecutions on your back. 
You cannot even state truth without running it to false- 

hood * " Thomas Paine." 

Cheetham was in the first instance an admirer of 
Paine, and was present at the dinner given to him in 
New York. Afterwards he became a rancorous oppo- 
nent, and was strongly suspected of being bought by 
Pitt. Paine exposed his baseness ; and hence the libel- 
ler's hatred. Cheetham could not bring the shadow of 
evidence in support of his assertions : but were the libel 
true, it is no proof of licentiousness. By what law, hu- 
man or divine, was Paine bound to celibacy ? That, 
whatever the nature of his intimacy with Madame 
Bonneville, the public had nothing to do with it, is 
shown by the conduct of the husband. Bonneville and 
his wife lived together after the libel, in the very house 
in which Paine had boarded, In all such cases the world' s 



74 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

interference (and begging the world's pardon, however 
clean-handed it may be, it is not pure-hearted enough to 
throw stones, even at those taken in adultery), public 
prosecution, or persecution, is as indecent as it is useless 
and mischievous. Bonneville, his wife, and his two 
sons v , are all included in Paine' s will. 

It remains for us to notice the weakest ''invention " 
— the fanatics' lie, that on his death-bed Paine re- 
nounced his published opinions of Christianity. It is 
difficult to discover what could be gained for truth by 
the clearest proof of such a recantation. Is the utterance 
of a feverish fear, when a man's mind is enfeebled by 
disease and confused by pain, to be more regarded than 
the calm and healthful voice of undisturbed and ripe re- 
flection ? or, is it imagined that the dying sees through 
the grave, and, looking in the face of eternity, dares not 
lie. What then ? How seldom shall we be able to dis- 
tinguish the inspirations of the far-world vision from the 
ravings of delirium. An unstable religion that, which 
needs so often appeal to the disordered and impressible 
imaginations of diseased men whose constancy has been 
worn out by the repeated droppings of priestly venom. 
It is time this death-bed cant should be exploded. The 
blasphemous absurdity (if anything is blasphemous) of 
sinners, terrified into a false and foolish repentance, car- 
ried by angels from the deserved gallows to undesired 
glory, the outcasts of human justice gemming the diadem 
of Mercy — even this is less offensive than the hateful 
exultation of lying priests, and sectarians possessed by 
piety, over the supposed and prayed-for agonies of high- 
souled men who never flinched or feared, who loved 
truth better than ' l belie f ' ' inquiry more than authority, 
and good works rather than damning and unholy words. 
A recent work, highly spoken of by the press (the Diary 
of a Physician,) furnishes us with the following piece of 
ludicrous solemnity. A dying student wildly exclaims 




THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON" TO THOMAS PAINE. 



YOU express a wish in your letter to return to Amer- 
ica in a national ship ; Mr. Dawson, who brings 
over the treaty, and who will present you with this 
letter, is charged with orders to the captain of the 
Maryland to receive and accommodate you back, if you 
can be ready to depart at such a short warning. You 
will in general find us returned to sentiments worthy of 
former times ; in these it will be your glory to have 
steadily labored and with as much effect as any 7nan living. 
That you may live long to continue your useful labors, 
and reap the reward in the thankfulness of nations, is 
my sincere prayer. Accept the assurances of my high 
esteem and affectionate attachment. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 75 

to his medical attendant — " Doctor, keep them off !" to 
which the pious practitioner appends this interesting 
note : — "I once before heard these strange words fall 
from the lips of a dying patient, a lady. To me they 
suggest very unpleasant, I may say, fearful thoughts — 
What is to be kept off?" What, indeed? Had the ex- 
claimer been in sound health, the physician would have 
suggested a strait waistcoat ; but in the frenzy of a pain- 
enfeebled mind he beheld the Glorious Majesty of Super- 
stition's God, the Devil. But Paine gave no opportunity 
for the reveries of the faithful. He retained his intel- 
lectual faculties to the last. His eye was not dim, nor 
the natural force of his mind abated. In the midst of 
keen bodily pangs, and heartless annoyance, his spirit 
was unshaken. " He died, as he lived, an enemy to the 
Christian Religion," placidly, and unhaunted by unnat- 
ural apprehensions of a priest-ordered eternity. Even 
Cheetham (whose word may be taken against himself, if 
for nothing else) is compelled to acknowledge this. 
Paine was too clear-headed, and too clear-hearted withal, 
to dread damnation. He had thought himself dying, in 
his captivity, in the Luxembourg ; and felt then as little 
inclined to recantation. u It was then," he says, u that 
I remembered with satisfaction, and congratulated my- 
self most sincerely, on having written the former part of 
the Age of Reason. I had then but little expectation 
of surviving. I know, therefore, by experience, the 
conscientious trial of my principles."* 

Mr. Bond, an English surgeon of the suite of General 
O'Hara, was at that time in the Luxembourg. Let us 
hear him. "Mr. Paine, while hourly expecting to die, 
read to me parts of his Age of Reason ; and every 
night when I left him to be separately locked up, and 
expected not to see him alive in the morning, he always 
expressed his firm belief in the principles of that book, 

* Preface to the second part of the Age of Reason. 



j6 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

and begged I would tell the world such were his dying 
opinions. ' ' f Such were his dying opinions. Dr. 
Manley, his intimate friends — Mr. Pel ton and Mr. 
Fellows, Mr. Jarvis — with whom he lived, and every 
other intimate, without exception, testify to his ad- 
herence to his published faith. % Yet further corrobora- 
tion has just reached us from New York. Mr. Vale 
says — "We have just returned from Boston. One ob- 
ject of our visit to that city, was to see a Mr. Amasa 
Woodsworth, an engineer, now retired in a handsome 
cottage and garden at East Cambridge, Boston. This 
gentleman owned the house rented by Mrs. Bonneville 
for Mr. Paine at his death ; while he lived next door. 
As an act of kindness, Mr. Woodsworth visited Mr. 
Paine every day for six weeks before his death ; he fre- 
quently sat up with him, and did so on the two last 
nights of his life. He was present when Dr. Manley 
asked Mr. Paine 'if he wished to believe that Jesus 
Christ was the Son of God,' and he describes Mr. Paine' s 
answer as animated. He says, that lying on his back, 
he used some action, and with much emphasis replied, 
' I have no wish to believe on that subject. ' He lived a 
short time after this, but was not known to speak ; for 
he died tranquilly. He accounts for the insinuating 
style of Dr. Manley' s letter, by stating, that that gentle- 
man just after its publication joined a church. He informs 
us that he has openly reproved the Doctor for the falsity 
contained in the spirit of that letter, boldly declaring 
before Dr. Manley, who is yet living, that nothing 
which he saw justified his (the Doctor's) insinuations.* 
Mr. Woodsworth assures us, that he neither heard nor 
saw anything to justify the belief of any mental change 
in the opinions of Mr. Paine previous to his death : but 
that being very ill, and in pain, chiefly arising from the 

t Rickman, p. 194. \ No. 34 of the Beacon, June, 1837. 

* The Doctor thought " that had Mr. Paine not been a conspicuous character, it is 
likely he would have changed his opinions." Letter from Mr. Clarke to Sherwin. 




EOBESPIERKE, 



MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE. 

ROBESPIERRE was the Luther of politics, says Lamartine. "He was of no party, 
but of all parties which in their turn served his ideal of the Revolution. In this 
his power consisted, for parties paused but he never did. He placed his ideal as an end 
to reach in every new revolutionary movement, and advanced towards it with those who 
sought to attain it; then, this goal reached, he placed it still further off, and again marched 
forward with other men, continually advancing without ever deviating, ever pausing, ever 
retreating. The Revolution, decimated in its progress, must one day or other inevit- 
ably arrive at a last stage, and he desired it should end in himself. He was the entire 
incarnation of the Revolution — principles, thoughts, passions, impulses. 

" The Revolution was in Robespierre's eyes not so much a political cause, as a religion 
of the mind. Deprived of the external requisites and the sudden inspirations of natural 
eloquence, he had cultivated his mind, he had meditated, written, erased so much, so long 
braved the inattention and sarcasms of his auditory, that he had at last given grace and 
persuasion to his language, and made his whole person, spite of his stiff and thin figure, 
his feeble voice andstrange gestures, an instrument of eloquence, conviction, and passion. 

He had decreed : " Art. 1st. The French people recognize the existence of a Supreme 
Being, and the immortality of the soul. Frenchmen, republicans, (said he on the day 
appointed for the festival of the Supreme Being,) at length has arrived the day which 
the French people have consecrated to thee. Never did the world which he has created 
offer to its author a spectacle more worthy of his regard. He has seen reigning over the 
earth tyranny, crime, imposture. He sees at this moment an entire nation contending 
against all the oppressors of the human race. 

" Being of Beings ! we have not to address to thee unjust prayers : thou knowest the 
creatures sent forth from thy hands ; their wants do not escape thine eyes, no more than 
do their most secret thoughts. The hatred of hypocrisy and tyranny burns in our hearts, 
with the love of justice and our country. Our blood flows for the cause of humanity ! 
This is our prayer — our sacrifice — this the worship we offer unto thee ! 

" There is a design in Robespierre's life, and this design is vast — the reign of reason by 
the medium of democracy. There is a momentum, and that momentum is supreme — it 
was a thirst after the truth and justice in the laws. There is an action, and that action is 
meritorious — it is the struggle for life and death against vice, lying and despotism. 
There is a devotion, and this devotion is as constant, absolute, as an antique immolation 
— it was the sacrifice of himself, of his youth, his repose, his happiness, his ambition, his 
life, his memory, and his work. Finally, there is a means, and that means is, in turns, 
execrable or legitimate — it is popularity. He caressed the people by its ignoble tenden- 
cies, he exaggerated suspicion, excited envy, sharpened anger, envenomed vengeance. 
He opened the veins of the social body to cure the disease ; but he allowed life to flow out, 
pure or impure, with indifference, without casting himself between the victims and the 
executioners. He did not desire evil, and yet accepted it. He surrendered to what he 
believed the pressure of situation, the king, the queen, their innocent sister. He yielded 
to pretended necessity the head of Vergniaud : to fear and domination the head of Danton. 
He allowed his name to serve, for eighteen months, as the standard of the scaffold, and 
the justification of death. He hoped subsequently to redeem that which is never redeem- 
ed—present crime, through the purity, the holiness of future institutions. He was intox- 
icated with the perspective of public felicity, whilst France was palpitating on the block. 
He desired to extirpate, with the iron blade, all the ill-growing roots of the social soil. 
He desired to be the exterminating and creative genius of the Revolution. He forgot that 
if every man thus made a deity of himself, there could only remain one man on the globe 
at the end of the world, and that this last man would be the assassin of all the others ! 
He besmeared with blood the purest doctrines of philosophy. He inspired the future 
with a dread of the people's reign, repugnance to the institution of the republic, a doubt 
of liberty. He fell at last in the first struggle with the Terror, because he did not acquire, 
by resisting it, the right of power to quell it. His principles were sterile and fatal like 
his proscriptions, and he died exclaiming (with the despondency of Brutus), 'the republic 
perishes with me ! ' His memory is an enigma of which history trembles to pronounce 
the solution, fearing to do him injustice if she brand it as a crime, or to inspire horror 
if she should term it virtue 1"— E. 



UFE OF THOMAS PAINE. J J 

skin being removed in some parts, by long lying, he was 
generally too uneasy to enjoy conversation on abstract 
subjects. This, then, is the best evidence that can be 
procured on this subject ; and we publish it while the 
contravening parties are yet alive, and with the author- 
ity of Mr. Woodsworth."t 

Needs there more satisfactory refutation? L,et the 
following relation, exemplifying the usual method in 
which " death-bed confessions" are fabricated, supply 
the place of further argument. It is an answer, by 
William Cobbett, to a recantation-story that was widely 
distributed by a "Religious Tract Society,'' and copied 
into most of the newspapers. 

' ' I happen to know the origin of this story ; and I pos- 
sess the real, original document, whence have proceeded 
the divers editions of the falsehood, of the very inven- 
tion of which I was, perhaps, myself, the innocent cause. 

"About two years ago, I, being then on Long Island, 
published my intention of writing an account of the life, 
labors, and death of Paine. Soon after this, a Quaker at 
New York, named Charles Collins, made many applica- 
tions for an interview with me, which, at last, he ob- 
tained. I found that his object was to persuade me, 
that Paine had recanted. I laughed at him, and sent 
him away. But, he returned again and again to the 
charge. He wanted me to promise, that I would say, 
'that it was said,' that Paine recanted. 'No,' said I ; 
' but, I will say, that you say it, and that you tell a lie, 
unless you prove the truth of what you say ; and, if you 
do that, I shall gladly insert the fact.' This posed 
' friend Charley, ' whom I suspected to be a most con- 
summate hypocrite. He had a sodden face, a simper, 
and manoeuvred his features, precisely like the most 
perfidious wretch that I have ever known or read or 
heard of. He was precisely the reverse of my honest, 

t New York Beacon, June 15, 1839. 



78 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

open and sincere Quaker friends, the Pauls of Pennsyl- 
vania. Friend Charley plied me with remonstrances 
and reasonings ; but I always answered him — 'Give me 
proof, name persons, state times, state precise words / or 
I denounce you as a liarS Thus put to his trumps, 
friend Charley resorted to the aid of a person of his own 
stamp ; and, at last he brought me a paper, containing 
matter, of which the above statement of Mr. Burke's is 
a garbled edition! This paper, very cautiously and 
craftily drawn up, contained only the initials of names. 
This would not do. I made him, at last, put down the 
full name and address of the informer, ' Mary Hinsdale, 
No. 10 Anthony Street, New York. ' I got this from 
friend Charley, some time about June last ; and had no 
opportunity of visiting the party till late in October, just 
before I sailed. 

"The informer was a Quaker woman, who, at the 
time of Mr. Paine' s last illness, was a servant in the 
family of Mr. Willet Hicks, an eminent merchant, a 
man of excellent character, a Quaker, and even, I be- 
lieve, a Quaker preacher. Mr. Hicks, a kind and lib- 
eral and rich man, visited Mr. Paine in his illness, and, 
from his house, which was near that of Mr. Paine, little 
nice things (as is the practice in America) were some- 
times sent to him ; of which this servant, friend Mary, 
was the bearer : and this was the way in which the lying 
cant got into the room of Mr. Paine. 

u To 'friend Mary,' therefore, I went, on the 26th of 
October last, with friend Charley's paper in my pocket. 
I found her in a lodging in a back room up one pair of 
stairs. I knew that I had no common cunning to set my 
wit against. I began with all the art I was master of. I 
had got a prodigiously broad-brimmed hat on ; I patted 
a little child that she had sitting beside her ; I called her 
friend; and played all the tricks of an undisciplined 
wheedler. But, I was compelled to come quickly to 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON TO THOMAS PAINE. 



Rocky Hill, Sept. 10, 1783. 

I HAVE learned since I have been at this place, that 
you are at Bordentown. — Whether for the sake of 
retirement or economy I know not. Be it for either or 
both, or whatever it may, if you will come to this place 
and partake with me I shall be exceedingly happy to see 
you at it. Your presence may remind Congress of your 
past services to this country ; and if it is in my power 
to impress them, command my best exertions with 
freedom, as they will be rendered cheerfully by one who 
entertains a lively sense of the importance of your 
works, and who with much pleasure subscribes himself, 

Your sincere friend, 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 79 

business. She asked, 'What's thy name, friend?' and, 
the moment I said William Cobbett, up went her mouth 
as tight as a purse ! Sack-making appeared to be her 
occupation ; and that I might not extract through her 
eyes that which she was resolved I should not get out of 
her mouth, she went and took up a sack, and began to 
sew ; and not another look or glance could I get from her. 

"However, I took out my paper, read it, and, stopping 
at several points, asked her if it was true. Talk of the 
Jesuits, indeed ! The whole tribe of Loyola, who have 
shaken so many kingdoms to their base, never possessed 
a millionth part of the cunning of this drab-colored little 
woman, whose face simplicity and innocence seemed to 
have chosen as the place of their triumph. She shuffled ; 
she evaded ; she equivocated ; she warded off; she affected 
not to understand me, not to understand the paper, not 
to remember ; and all this with so much seeming 
simplicity and single-heartedness, and in a voice so mild, 
so soft, and so sweet, that, if the Devil had been sitting 
where I was, he would certainly have jumped up and 
hugged her to his bosom ! 

' ' The result was : that it was so long ago, that she 
could not speak positively to any part of the matter ; that 
she would not say that any part of the paper was true ; 
that she had never seen the paper; and, that she had 
never given 'friend Charley,' (for so she called him) 
authority to say anything about the matter in her name. 
I pushed her closely upon the subject of the 'unhappy 
French female;'* asked her whether she should know 
her again : — 'Oh, no! friend : I tell thee that I have no 
recollection of any person or thing that I saw at Thomas 
Paine' s house.' The truth is, that the cunning little 
thing knew that the French lady was at hand ; and that 
detection was easy, if she had said that she should know 
her upon sight ! 

* Madame Bonneville. 



8o life of Thomas pains. 

"I had now nothing to do but to bring friend Charley's 
nose to the grindstone. But Charley, who is a grocer, 
living in Cherry Street, near Pearl Street, though so 
pious a man, and, doubtless, in great haste to get to 
everlasting bliss, had moved out of the city for fear of the 
fever, not liking, apparently, to go off to the next world 
in a yellow skin. And thus he escaped me, who sailed 
from New York in four days afterwards : or, Charley 
should have found that there was something else, on this 
side the grave, pretty nearly as troublesome and as dread- 
ful as the yellow fever. 

' ' This is, I think, a pretty good instance of the lengths 
to which hypocrisy will go. The whole, as far as relates 
to recantation and to the ^unhappy French female, ' is a 
lie, from the beginning to the end. Mr. Paine declares, 
in his last will, that he retains all his publicly expressed 
opinions as to religion. His executors, and many other 
gentlemen of undoubted veracity, had the same declara- 
tion from his dying lips. Mr. Willet Hicks visited him 
to nearly the last. This gentleman says, that there was 
no change of opinions intimated to him: and, will any 
man believe, that Paine would have withheld from Mr. 
. Hicks, that which he was so forward to communicate to 
Mr. Hicks' servant-girl ?"f 

The sequel of the story is worth recording. 

u For some time a division has existed among the 
Society of Friends, respecting some opinions advanced 
by Klias Hicks, one of their principal preachers. Among 
those who adopted and openly maintained his views, was 
a young woman, lately deceased, named Mary Lockwood, 
possessing talents and education which qualified her to 
become a teacher of the children of Friends. In this 
dispute, Mary Hinsdale, the calumniator of Paine, 
avowed herself an opponent of Elias Hicks. Finding 
of late that her party were losing ground, and recollect- 

t Republican, February 13th, 1824, vol. ix, p. 221, &c. 



u 
w 

o 

to 

> 
!-3 





NAPOLEON. 






LIKE OF THOMAS PAINE. 8l 

ing the success of her former scheme to destroy the 
reputation of Paine, she appears to have calculated on a 
similar result by pursuing the same course as to Mary 
Lockwood. Accordingly, on the decease of that young 
woman, she openly declared, that, on her death-bed, she 
had recanted her former opinions, and expressed the 
deepest penitence for the countenance she had given to 
Klias Hicks, whom she reprobated as an enemy to truth, 
and an artful deceiver. 

"The reverse of these representations as to Mary 
Lock wood, being perfectly known to many of the Friends, 
it was considered necessary that the matter should be 
investigated ; when evidence was brought forward which 
clearly convicted Mary Hinsdale of deliberate falsehood, 
and that all she had said respecting the recantation of 
Mary Lock wood, was a wicked fabrication." — * 

Paine died, as he lived, an enemy to the " established" 
religion. Follower of the establishment ! what hast thou 
to do with that? Art thou justified in violently assailing 
either the man or his works? Let a Christian answer; 
even the worthy Gilbert Wakefield, who wrote against 
the Age of Reason, but wrote thus of public prosecu- 
tions : — t 

"What right, I wish to be informed, can one man 
claim, distinct from power and tyranny, and usurpation, 
to dictate creeds, and to prescribe sentiments, for another? 
Let us put an extreme case upon this question, which 
will abundantly elucidate, and indubitably decide the 
controversy: I mean the publication of Paine' s Age of 
Reason. 

U I would not forcibly suppress this book; much less 
would I punish, by fine or imprisonment, from any possi- 
ble consideration, the publisher or author of these pages. 

"Prudential motives would prevent me : because such 
interdiction serves only to excite the restless curiosity of 

* New York Correspondent ; Lion, August first, 1828, vol. ii. p. 141. 

t Letter from Gilbert Wakefield to Sir John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon. 



82 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

mankind ; and the restraints of law give fresh vigor to 
circulation. 

"Motives of Philosophy would prevent me: because 
inquiry and discussion are hereby provoked ; and sparks 
of truth, which would otherwise have been concealed 
for ever, are elicited by the collision of debate ; to the 
unspeakable emolument and illumination of mankind, in 
the promotion of mutual forbearance and esteem, in the 
furtherance of valuable knowledge, and in the consequent 
propagation of all happiness and virtue. Truth can 
never suffer from argument and inquiry ; but may be 
essentially injured by the tyrannous interference of her 
pretended advocates. ' ' 

"Motives of Justice would deter me. Why should I 
refuse another that privilege of thinking and writing, 
which I claim and exercise myself? 

"Motives of Humanity would deter me. I should 
think with horror on the punishment of any man for his 
belief, in which he has no discretionary power, but is 
necessarily swayed by the controlling depotism of argu- 
ments and reasons ; and at what licence or patent shop 
shall I purchase a gag to silence him? Or, what shall 
hinder him from forming the same unfavorable judgment 
of my opinions, and pursuing in his turn the same 
measures of intimidation and coercion with myself? 

"Lastly, Motives of Religion would deter me from 
molesting any writer for the publication of his senti- 
ments. ' ' 

"Who, then, art Thou, vain dust and ashes ! by what- 
ever name thou art called, whether a King, a Bishop, a 
Church, or a State, a Parliament, or any thing else, that 
obtrudest thine insignificance between the soul of man 
and its Maker? Mind thine own concerns. If he 
BELIEVES NOT AS THOU BELIE VEST, IT IS A PROOF THAT 
THOU BELIEVEST NOT AS HE BELIEVETH, AND THERE IS 
NO EARTHLY POWER CAN DETERMINE BETWEEN YOU." 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 83 



APPENDIX. 

IN Moore' s Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, 
fifth son of the Duke of L,einster, and nephew to 
the Duke of Richmond ; in a letter from Fitzgerald 
to his mother, dated "Paris, October 30th, 1792, the 
following passage occurs, throwing light on the high 
character of Paine : — 

"I lodge with my friend Paine, — we breakfast, dine, 
and sup together. The more I see his interior, the more 
I like and respect him. I cannot express how kind he is 
to me ; there is a simplicity of manner, a goodness of 
heart, and a strength of mind in him, that I never knew 
a man before possess. ' ' 

Dr. Walker was a great enemy to slavery under all its 
forms. He, one day, inquired of Thomas Paine how it 
was to be accounted for, that he had not taken up the 
pen to advocate the cause of the blacks. The answer 
offers as great a testimony to his judgment, as it does 
honor to his feelings. u An unfitter person," said he 
u for such a work could hardly be found. The cause 
would have suffered in my hands. I could not have 
treated it with any chance of success ; for I could never 
think of their condition but with feelings of indignation. n 

"The counsel, that Thomas Paine had the courage to 
offer, in the French National Convention, on attempting 
to save the life of L,ouis the XVIth, must be approved 
and admired by every liberal mind. He proposed that 
the fallen king should be sent to the United States, 
where he would find many friends, not forgetful of the 



84 LIKE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

aid which he had rendered them in days of need, when 
striving to shake off the British yoke. On this dreadful 
occasion, Lord Edward Fitzgerald was his interpreter. ' ' 
— Dr. Epps^ Life of Dr. Walker, pp. 140, 141. 

[The following extract is taken from a private letter 
of Mr. Paine' s, dated July 31st, 1805, and addressed to 
Mr. John Fellows, of New York. It is quoted mainly to 
show the plain and quiet manner in which Mr. Paine 
lived ; and to destroy the attempts so often made by the 
self-styled and exclusively religious people, that he was 
an intemperate man. A copy of the entire letter is in 
the hands of the publisher. It was given by Mr. Fellows 
to Mr. William Clark, of London.] 

"I am master of an empty house, or nearly so. I have 
six chairs and a table, a straw bed, a feather bed, and a 
bag of straw for Thomas, a tea kettle, an iron pot, an 
iron baking pan, a frying pan, a gridiron, cups, saucers, 
plates and dishes, knives and forks, two candlesticks and 
a pair of snuffers. 

U I have a fine pair of oxen and an ox-cart, a good 
horse, a chaise, and a one horse-cart ; a cow, and a sow 
and nine pigs. When you come you must take such fare 
as you meet with, for I live upon tea, milk, fruit, pies, 
plain dumplings, and a piece of meat when I get it ; but 
I live with that retirement and quiet that suits me. 

u If you can make yourself up a straw bed, I can let 
you have blankets, and you will have no occasion to go 
over to the tavern to sleep. 

' ' Yours in friendship, 

"Thomas Paine." 



LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. &5 



THE WILL OF THOMAS PAINE. 

The people of the State of New York, by the Grace of 
God, Free and Independent, to all to whom these presents 
shall come or may concern, Send Greeting: 

Know ye, that the annexed is a true copy of the will 
of Thomas Paine, deceased, as recorded in the office of 
our surrogate, in and for the city and county of New 
York. In testimony whereof, we have caused the seal 
of office of our said surrogate to be hereunto affixed. — 
Witness, Silvanus Miller, Esq., surrogate of said county, 
at the city of New York, the twelfth day of July, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nine, 
and of our Independence the thirty-fourth. 

Silvanus Miller. 

THE last will and testament of me, the subscriber, 
Thomas Paine, reposing confidence in my Creator 
God, and in no other being, for I know of no 
other, nor believe in any other, I, Thomas Paine, of the 
state of New York, author of the work entitled Common 
Sense, written in Philadelphia, in 1775, and published 
in that city the beginning of January, 1776, which 
awaked America to a Declaration of Independence on 
the fourth of July following, which was as fast as the 
work could spread through such an extensive country ; 
author also of the several numbers of the American 
Crisis, thirteen in all, published occasionally during the 
progress of the revolutionary war — the last is on the peace ; 
author also of the Rights of Man, parts the first and 
second, written and published in London, in 1791, and 



86 utfE of Thomas paine. 

1792 ; author ako of a work on religion, Age of Reason, 
parts the first and second. N. B. I have a third part by 
me in manuscript and an answer to the Bishop of 
Llandaff ; author also of a work, lately published, entitled 
Examination of the passages in the New Testament quoted 
from the Old, and called Prophecies concerning fesus 
Christ, and showing there are no prophecies of any 
such person ; author also of several other works not 
here enumerated, Dissertations on the first Principles of 
Government — Decline and Fall of the English System 
of Finance — Agrarian fustice, &c, &c, make this my 
last will and testament, that is to say : I give and 
bequeath to my executors hereinafter appointed, Walter 
Morton and Thomas Addis Emmet, thirty shares I 
hold in the New York Phoenix Insurance Company, 
which cost me 1470 dollars, they are worth now upwards 
of 1500 dollars, and all my moveable effects, and also the 
money that may be in my trunk or elsewhere at the 
time of my decease, paying thereout the expenses of my 
funeral, in TRUST as to the said shares, moveables and 
money, for Margaret Brazeir Bonneville, wife of Nicholas 
Bonneville, of Paris, for her own sole and separate use, 
and at her own disposal, notwithstanding her coverture. 
As to my farm in New Rochelle, I give, devise, and 
bequeath the same to my said executors, Walter Morton 
and Thomas Addis Emmet, and to the survivor of them, 
his heirs and assigns forever, in Trust, nevertheless, to 
sell and dispose of the north side thereof, now in the 
occupation of Andrew A. Dean, beginning at the west 
end of the orchard and running in a line with the land 

sold to Coles, to the end of the farm, and to apply 

the money arising from such sale as hereinafter directed. 
I give to my friends, Walter Morton, of the New York 
Phoenix Insurance Company, and Thomas Addis Emmet, 
counsellor at law, late of Ireland, two hundred dollars 
each, and one hundred dollars to Mrs. Palmer, widow of 



tl#£ OF THOMAS PAINE. 87 

Elihu Palmer, late of New York, to be paid out of the 
money arising from said sale, and I give the remainder of 
the money arising from that sale, one half thereof to Clio 
Rickman, of High or Upper Mary-la-Bonne street, 
London, and the other half to Nicholas Bonneville, of 
Paris, husband of Margaret B. Bonneville aforesaid : and 
as to the south part of the said farm, containing upwards 
of one hundred acres, in trust, to rent out the same or 
otherwise put it to profit, as shall be found most advisa- 
ble, and to pay the rents and profits thereof to the said 
Margaret B. Bonneville, in trust for her children, 
Benjamin Bonneville and Thomas Bonneville, their 
education and maintenance, until they come to the age 
of twenty-one years, in order that she may bring them 
well up, give them good and useful learning, and instruct 
them in their duty to God, and the practice of morality, 
the rent of the land or the interest of the money for 
which it may be sold, as hereinafter mentioned, to be 
employed in their education. And after the youngest of 
the said children shall have arrived at the age of twenty- 
one years, in further trust to convey the same to the said 
children share and share alike in fee simple. But if it 
shall be thought advisable by my executors and execu- 
trix, or the survivor or suvivors of them, at any time 
before the youngest of the said children shall come of 
age, to sell and dispose of the said south side of the said 
farm, in that case I hereby authorize and empower my 
said executors to sell and dispose of the same, and I direct 
that the money arising from such sale be put into stock, 
either in the United States bank stock, or New York 
Phoenix Insurance Company stock, the interest or 
dividends thereof to be applied as is already directed for 
the education and maintenance of the said children ; and 
the principal to be transferred to the said children or the 
survivor of them on his or their coming of age. I know 
not if the society of people called Quakers admit a 



88 LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE. 

person to be buried in their burying ground, who does 
not belong to their society, but if they do, or will admit 
me, I would prefer being buried there, my father belonged 
to that profession, and I was partly brought up in it. 
But if it is not consistent with their rules to do this, I 
desire to be buried on my farm at New Rochelle. The 
place where I am to be buried, to be a square of twelve 
feet, to be enclosed with rows of trees, and a stone or 
post and rail fence, with a head stone with my name and 
age engraved upon it, author of Common Sense. I 
nominate, constitute, and appoint Walter Morton, of 
the New York Phoenix Insurance Company, and Thomas 
Addis Emmet, counsellor at law, late of Ireland, and 
Margaret B. Bonneville, my executors and executrix to 
this my last will and testament, requesting them the said 
Walter Morton and Thomas Addis Emmet, that they 
will give what assistance they conveniently can to Mrs. 
Bonneville, and see that the children be well brought up. 
Thus placing confidence in their friendship, I herewith 
take my final leave of them and of the world. I have 
lived an honest and useful life to mankind ; my time has 
been spent in doing good ; and I die in perfect composure 
and resignation to the will of my Creator God. Dated 
this eighteenth day of January, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and nine, and I have also signed my name 
to the other sheet of this will in testimony of its being a 
part thereof. 

THOMAS PAINE, [i,. s.] 

Signed, sealed, published and declared by the testator, 
in our presence, who, at his request, and in the presence 
of each other, have set our names as witnesses thereto, 
the words "published and declared" first interlined. 

Wm. KEESE, 
JAMES ANGEVINE, 
CORNELIUS RYDER. 



Peter Eckler, Publisher, New York. 



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Orthodoxy. A Lecture Paper, 10 cents. 

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Karl Semper, Professor of the University of Wiirzburg. With 2 
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36. Suicide : An Essay in Comparative Moral Statistics. By Henry 

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37. The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms. 

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39. The Brain and its Functions. By J. Luys $1.50 

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the Social Hymenoptera. By Sir John Lubbock, Bart $2.00 

43. The Science of Politics. By Sheldon Amos, M. A $i-75 

44. Animal Intelligence. By Geo. J. Romanes $i-75 

45. Man before Metals. By N. Joly $1. 75 

46. The Organs of Speech, and their Application in the Formation of Artic- 

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48. Origin of Cultivated Plants. By Alphonse de Candolle $2.00 

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50. The Common Sense of the Exact Sciences. William Kingdon Clifford. $1.50 

51. Physical Expression : Its Modes and Principles. By Francis Warner.. .$1.75 

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7 2. Race and Language. By Andre Lefevre $1.50 



K 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics. ij 

JACOLLIOT (L.) Bible in India. Hindoo Origin of Chris- 
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Cloth -r C j- S- 

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ITY ; being a series of Lectures delivered in Broadway Hall, New York, in 
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Alexander the Great. With a portrait of Abner Kneeland $1.00 

Koran, The Or, Alkoran of Mahomet. "The Bible of the East." 
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drawings by Louis M. Glackens. i2mo, 165 pp.. Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.25 

Lays of Romance. By saiadin cioth, 75 cts. 

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Lecture On Shakespeare. By R. G. Ingersoll. The Lecture so 
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Liberty in Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman, by Col. 
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Liberty of Man, Woman and Child, with a beautiful 

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Limitations Of Toleration. A Discussion between Col. Robert 
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Lubbock (Sir John Bart.) Origin of Civilization, 

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The Pleasures Of Life. iamo.. Paper, 25cts.; cloth, socts. 



M 



AN IN THE PAST, PRESENT AND FU- 

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Mahomet, The Illustrious, by Godfrey higgins, Esq. 

Perhaps no author has appeared who was better qualified for writing an 
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author of the present work. His knowledge of the Oriental languages, 
his careful and methodical examination of all known authorities — his evident 
desire to state the exact truth, joined to the judicial character of his mind, 
eminently fitted him for the task, and he has produced a work that will 
prove of interest to both Mahometans and Christians. Preface by Peter 
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MicrOmegaS. A Voyage to the Planet Saturn, by a native of Sirius ; 
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India ; Jeannot and Colin ; The Travels of Scarmentado ; The Good 
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Mitchell (Richard M.) The Safe Side: a Theistk Refu- 
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MalthUS On Population. A new edition. With full Analysis and 

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Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 10 

Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome. The work contains 

Horatius, a Lay made about the year of the city ccclx ; The Battle of the 
Lake Regillus, a Lay sung at the Feast of Castor and Pollux on the Ides of 
Qumtilis, in the year of the city ccccli ; Virginia ; fragments of a Lay sung 
in the Forum on the day whereon Lucius Lextius Sextinus Lateranus and 
Caius Licinius Calvus Stolo were elected Tribunes of the Commons the fifth 
time, in the year of the city ccclxxxii ; The Prophecy of Capys ; a Lay 
sung at the Banquet in the Capitol, on the day whereon Manius Curius 
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Tarentines, in the year of the city cccclxxix ; Ivry, a Song of the Hugue- 
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Man Of Forty CrOWnS (The.) National Poverty ; An Adventure 
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THE HURON; OR, PUPIL OF NA TURE. The Huron arrives in 
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Falls in Love ; Flies to his Mistress ; Repulses the English ; Goes to Court ; 
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Man: Whence and Whither? By Richard b. westbrook, 

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Martineatl (Harriet.) Autobiography of, with Memorials, Portraits 
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Letter Of, aS tO Her Religion. An Epitome of Posi- 
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Martyrdom of Man (The.) b y winwood Reade. This book is a 

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shows how war and religion have been oppressive factors m the struggle for 
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line of what the author conceives would be a religion of reason and love. 
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Manners and Customs of Modern Egyptians. By 

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Meslier's Superstition in All Ages, jean Mesiier was a 

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and Testament to his parishioners and to the world. Preface by Peter 

Eckler. 339 pp., portrait. Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00 half calf, $3.00 

jpjg~ The same work in German Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00 

NEW Light from the Great Pyramid. The Astro- 
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20 Peter Eckler, Publisher, New \York. 

New Researches in Ancient History ; showing the origin 

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NO " Beginning 5 " Or The Fundamental Fallacy. An exposure of the 
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O racle Of R eaSOn. By Col. Ethan Allen Cloth, 75 cts. 

Origin of All Religious Worship, The origin of an Relig- 
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Origin Of Species, by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation 
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Outline of the French Revolutions its causes and Results. 

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PARTON (JAMES). Life of Voltaire, with two 
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of Frenchmen, and one of the most extraordinary of human beings. The 
volumes also contain a list of the works relating to Voltaire, and also a cata- 
logue of Voltaire's own works — some two hundred and sixty. The Voltaire 
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and construct. The man is to be found in these pages delineated by himself. 
The horrible tales told of him by the priests are exposed, and the truth is 
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2 vols., gilt top Cloth, $6.00 

Paradoxes. By Max Nordau. "Excellent language, great clearness of 
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Pedigree Of the Devil. By Frederick T. Hall. With curious Il- 
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Philosophy of Disenchantment. By e. e. saitus. 233 pages. 

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From Fame's Religious and Theological Works, Eckler's Edition. 



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ComiTIOn ScnSC A Revolutionary pamphlet addressed to the inhab 
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The CriS!S. 16 numbers. Written during the darkest hours of the American 
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New Testament between Matthew and Mark ; An Essay on Dreams ; 
Private Thoughts on a Future State ; A Letter to the Hon. Thomas 
Erskine ; Religious Year of the Theophilanthropists ; Precise History 
of the Theophilanthropists ; A Discourse Delivered to the Society of 
Theophilanthropists at Paris; A Letter to Camille Jordan; Origin of Free- 
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State; Miracles; An Answer to a Friend on the Publication of the Age 
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on Government, the Affairs of the Bank and Paper Money ; Prospects on the 
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Pailie'S Vindication. A Reply to the New York Observer's attack 
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Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 23 

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Philosophical Dictionary of Voltaire. Tenth American 

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this American Edition $5-oo 

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tics to be agitated at the next Meeting of Parliament ; Public Good, being an 
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H Catalogue oj Liberal Classics. 

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PrOOfS Of EYOlUtiOn. By Nelson C. Parshall. Those who are de- 
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Psychic Life of Micro-Organisms, a study in Experimental 

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T 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 29 

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The History of Don Quixote of la Mancha. 

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Lazarillo de Tormes. (Life and Adventures of) 

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Asmodeus, or the Devil upon Two Sticks. 

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Popular editions of the Spanish Romances, 
Asmodeus; or, the Devil upon "wo Sticks. 

By A. R. Le Sage. With designs by Tony Johannot. Translated 
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Adventures related in an amusing manner. The writer exhibits remark- 
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Vanillo Gonzales, or the Merry Bachelor. By 

Le Sage. Translated from the French. With five illustrations by 
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Audacious, witty, and entertaining in the highest degree. 

The Adventures of Gil Bias of Santillane. 

Translated from the French of Le Sage by Tobias Smollett. With 
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With his Son the Count devoted himself at St. Helena to the care of the Em- 
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Cobbett's, (Wm.) English Grammar. Edited b> 

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